Eight year old mare wins her first race

Hillary (Somebeachsomewhere) has been a late comer to the harness racing ranks but she rewarded her Wyndham trainer Brendon McLellan when she won at Winton today.

“She had tendon issues so we ended up chucking her in the paddock for a season or a couple. She looked alright so we got her back in,” McLellan said.

Hillary qualified as a five year old at Winton in March 2022 and had just three starts at that age. She was also lightly race as a six year old, yielding one second placing.

She’s been busier season this year and from twelve starts has recorded a win and two third placings.

Driver Mark Hurrell settled Hillary three back on the outside. Coming to the 300 metres he hooked her out four wide and she stormed down the outside to beat Honeycomb by a length and a quarter.

“She hasn’t got a lot of high speed so it suits her when they go hard and she can come over the top of them. That’s her go.”

The winning time was 1-54.3.

Hillary is one of the last progeny of Somebeachsomewhere racing in New Zealand and is out of It’s Ella which won sixteen races, including two Premier Mares Championships and a G1 New Zealand Standardbred Breeders Stakes.

“She’s always looked good enough to win a race which we’ve done. So maybe I’ll take a foal out of her, or we might give her another couple of starts to see whether she handles the grade up.”

At stud, It’s Ella has left Tetrick (4), Ellz Angel (6) and Itoje (4). McLellan has geldings by  He’s Watching and Sweet Lou in the wings and says both are close to qualifying.

“I think both will make the grade.”

It was a super-fast Central Southland Raceway today with the Brett Gray trained two year old Side Hustle (Always B Miki) breaking a track and Southland record.

His time for the 1609 metre trip was 1-52.7 which lowered the previous record of 1-53.9 recorded by Captain Tom at Winton in 2022. The time was also a new Southland record. The previous mark of 1-53.6 was set by Duke Of Cornwall when he won at Wyndham.

Side Hustle’s time was also close to breaking the New Zealand record of 1-51.9. achieved by Ashley Lopez.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink