Act Now is set for first public appearance of 2023

Act Now (Somebeachsomewhere) is set to appear on the racetrack for the first time since he was beaten as harness racing favourite in last year’s Inter Dominion Pacing Championship Grand Final.

The Emma Stewart-trained pacer is down to take on stablemates Encipher, Treachery and Tough Tilly in the last of four Ballarat trials on Tuesday afternoon.

Owner-breeder Bruce Edward is “absolutely over the moon” with Act Now, who he says is doing well on the back of a long spell.

There’ll be no Queensland winter campaign for the five-year-old as Edward looks closer to home in the coming months.

“We really don’t know and we’ll play it by ear, but we’ve got the Victoria Cup, Hunter Cup and those sorts of things… we’ll probably give him a couple of races leading up to that,” Edward said.

“He tends to take probably three or four races to hit his peak, but we will see what happens.

“There’s nothing around at the moment, so we’ll just take it easy and go along gently.”

Edward said Act Now was just in front of stablemates Narutac Prince and Beyond Delight in his preparation, despite all three spelling and returning to Stewart’s barn at a similar time.

“He’s not wound up at all, but he’s looking fantastic and just probably a little bit ahead of the other two,” Edward said.

Act Now finished third in the Inter Dominion decider and Narutac Prince 11^th, with the latter racing on through the Vicbred Super Series before being scratched from the final. Beyond Delight was taken out of the ID decider when an issue presented in the lead-up to the race and has not been seen publicly since.

Edward said Narutac Prince and Beyond Delight would likely trial in the coming weeks.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria