Always Dancing giving his connections plenty to be optimistic about

When Jayson and Alyce Finnis made their move from Mount Gambier to Queensland just before last Christmas they carried dreams of a new chapter in their harness racing life.

And so far all is going well for the couple and their three young children. Currently they are enjoying success with their smart pacer Always Dancing (Always B Miki) who is fresh from a strong win last Saturday night at Redcliffe.

And this Saturday night at Albion Park Always Dancing will face the toughest task of his career when he takes on a strong field in the $26,000 Queensland Sun but he has drawn the outside of the second row which make his task a lot more difficult.

Alyce explained

Jayson brought him at Melbourne sales for the family and a group of friends we have as owners. As a group we try to buy one yearling each year.

From the day he started racing while the Finnis family were at Mount Gambier the four year old gelding displayed great promise and as a two year old he won the South Australian Sapling Stakes at Gawler and the Southern Cross for three year olds late last year.

We’ve always had a big opinion of him. When he was broken in he was well gaited but we couldn’t get him out of a walk.

We’ve had a few foot problems with him and being a quite a big horse there was an adjustment weather wise for him once we moved to Queensland. He’s got a few quirks, but he can take a sit as well as lead.

We’re happy for him to be in such strong company. He’s a lovely horse, has a beautiful temperament and he likes to have a horse race outside him to keep his mind on the job.

We’ll take each week as it comes. He’s definitely improving with age and we expect him to develop into a good stayer as well as showing high speed.

Jayson and Alyce purchase a property at Lowood which is about 66 kms west from Brisbane and about 30 kms north of Ipswich. They are quite close to the Marburg track which races regularly on Sundays.

We finished the track a few months ago. It took a while to get things going properly. We have about 12 pacers in work. We had always looked to eventually moving from Mount Gambier where we were it was about five hours travel to both Adelaide and Melbourne.

It pretty well happened all at once.

For all of us (the family and horses) we’ve needed to adjust to the weather. When we arrived just before Christmas it was the peak of Summer.

In addition to Always Dancing Alyce and Jayden have a trio of very useful mares in Tilly Jane, Queen Lilibet and Saturday Dance who have more than paid their way.

And whilst it maybe too much to expect Always Dancing to win this Saturday night in such a strong field the omens are good that he will continue to get better with age and eventually work his way down through the classes.

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink

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