Catch up on the week's harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
DAWSON CELEBRATES WITH BOURBON
Thebestbourbon competed in the 2023 Inter Dominion series in Brisbane and progressed to the Final where the mare was able to run a credible fourth behind Just Believe.
Fast forward 12 months and the now six-year-old has found her way to the Trent Dawson stable.
She had her second start for the Clarendon-based trainer on Friday at Albion Park.
Pressing forward as the mobile pulled clear of the field, Dawson continued to march to the head of the field and touched down in front with 1200 metres to travel.
Once in control it was all one way traffic as Thebestbourbon trotted cleanly through a last half of 57.7 seconds to post a winning margin.
It was the 13th career win for the mare, who has career earnings in excess of $150,000, while the win also gave Dawson a milestone of his own.
The win gave Dawson his 700th driving victory, also chalking up 1,292 placings in his career, that has been highlighted by four Group 1 victories.
With two horses competing on Saturday night, Dawson could not have gone any closer to lifting his win tally in the last race of the night when Taking A Punt was collared in the last stride.
Competing in the two-year-old event, Dawson speared across from gate seven to set the speed and was in front at every call, bar the last, as Point Lookout arrived to score a short-half-head victory.
HART HAVING A DOOZY OF A SEASON
Experiencing the most successful training season of his career, Ricky Hart picked up a pair of winners for the week at Albion Park.
Willroby - a five-year-old gelding - made perfect use of the passing lane after settling behind the leader for driver Shane Graham, darting through to grab a half-head winning margin.
Hart’s next runner was on Friday.
He made it a race-to-race double as Doolittle Doozzie scored the 19th win of her career with Brendan Barnes taking the reins.
Hart has trained the mare throughout her career with her 19 wins placing her at the top of the list of horses Hart has put the polish on over the years.
Approaching 100 career wins as a trainer, 35 of those wins have been secured between Doolittle Doozzie and Doolittle Dandy (16), with Its All Torque on 10 wins rounding out the top three.
Currently on 22 wins for the season, that number eclipses Hart’s previous best of 13 winners recorded in the 2021 term, while his 2024 stake earnings are double the 2021 season.
Complementing the 22 wins have been 61 placings this season, also a career best.
'HUSS' THE MARVEL
The career of Northview Hustler continues to astound as the 10-year-old claimed the Christmas Cup at Albion Park on Saturday night with a powerful last to first finishing burst.
The veteran has secured over $500,000 in career stake earnings, with almost $350,000 of that total won at 'The Creek'.
Eased back to the rear from the outside front line on Saturday, Adam Richardson watched the action unfold up front as Aroda found the front and held it through a sapping 74.5 second lead time.
With the first three quarters of the last mile run in 29.7, 29.7 and 28.4 seconds, Richardson moved Northview Hustler to the outside as the field swung into the home stretch.
Displaying his customary closing power, Northview Hustler powered home over the top of his rivals to defeat Classie Washington with Duke Of Scotland chiming in for third place.
Taking over the training of the gelding back in September, Alanah Richardson has now prepared Northview Hustler for 10 starts, recording five wins and over $50,000 in earnings.
The win was the 10th time that Adam Richardson has guided Northview Hustler to victory, joining Hayden Barnes who also has 10 wins aboard the veteran.
Northview Hustler will back up for start 200 this Wednesday in the Redcliffe Christmas Cup.
HIDE AND SEEK STEPS FORWARD
One of the most enigmatic trotters in Queensland was at the top of his game on Saturday night in securing the biggest win of his career.
The Shannon Price-trained Hide And Seek has certainly tested the patience of his trainer since joining the stable early in 2023 as a three-year-old.
Arriving as a two win trotter from five starts, the gelding has been able to win a further eight races in 21 starts for Price.
However, that number could potentially be much higher, having thrown several races away in that time with a mixture of gaiting and maturity concerns.
Bouncing back into form leading into the Christmas Cup with a strong win from a 20-metre handicap against mid-week company, Hide And Seek was on his best behaviour, stepping cleanly.
As Get Used To It also began quickly to find the front, driver Adam Sanderson allowed Hide And See to stride forward and apply strong pressure to eventually wrestle the lead away with 2000 metres remaining.
With the lead pair establishing a big lead over their rivals, the only danger appeared to be Gus who had loomed strongly down the back straight the final occasion.
However, Gus succumbed to his gaiting issues again approaching the home turn.
With Get Used To It easing off the back of Hide And Seek to make his challenge, Sanderson was able to keep the four-year-old in rhythm and hold off the challenge of the race favourite.
Posting a three-metre winning margin, Hide And Seek secured back-to-back wins for the first time since joining the Price stable.
REDCLIFFE STARTS THE WEEK
A Monday night Redcliffe meeting starts a week of six meetings in Queensland with three apiece from 'The Triangle' and 'The Creek'.
Redcliffe will host the highlight of the week with their Christmas Cup meeting taking place on Wednesday night, with the Pacers Cup, Trotters Cup and the Redcliffe Guineas also part of the program.
A Thursday afternoon meeting will round out Redcliffe’s three fixtures for the week.
Albion Park has an eight race card on Tuesday and will be complemented by another day meeting for Friday on the eve of the Saturday metropolitan fixture.
