Grant eyes off Swan Hill on way to NZ

Gun Queensland horseman Grant Dixon has never been to the far north-west Victorian tourist hot spot of Swan Hill – but he's excited to be there for the town's harness racing night-of-nights this Friday.

Dixon will making the long trip for the $35,000 Group Three Swan Hill Pacing Cup as he starts to crank up his superstar pacer Colt Thirty One for the prestigious 2019 NZ Inter Dominion series in Auckland.

"I'm really looking forward to competing in the Cup. It's a race that carries nice stakemoney and while there's only five runners in it, we're going to get a good gauge as to just where we are at for late November and December," he said.

"The plan is to keep him ticking over and I hope to squeeze in probably another three runs if possible before the big Inter series."

Colt Thirty One (Mach Three-Charm Personified (Perfect Art) has stamped himself as one of Australasia's greatest current pacers with 32 wins and 11 placings from 48 starts for nearly $755,000.

The five-year-old bay horse is bred and owned by industry powerhouse couple Kevin and Kay Seymour, of Solid Earth Pty Ltd, and showed just what he is capable of when he took out the $250,000 Group One Blacks a Fake in Brisbane earlier this year.

While he's recently had his colors lowered, but far from being disgraced, Dixon is confident of a solid showing in the cup.

"He's only had two race starts and one trial since the Blacks A Fake win back in mid-July. With more runs he's going to get harder and stronger," Dixon said.

"We thought his second placing to Bling It On in the Victoria Cup at Melton nearly a fortnight ago was a game effort," he said.

In that event, Colt Thirty One recorded a sensational time of 1.51-6 for the 2240m trip – the second time he has run a sub 1.52. The other was a PB of 1.51-2 in winning at Albion Park over 1660m on June 29 this year.

"His work since the Victoria Cup has been pleasing. We haven't gone to any trials because he does enough on the jog track when he's asked to click up," Dixon said.

Colt Thirty One and Grant Dixon storm to victory in the Blacks A Fake in Brisbane earlier this year (Dan Costello Photograph)

"The Swan Hill feature race should be exciting because Tam Major (Chris Alford) and San Carlo (Rebecca Bartley) are quality pacers. They are most likely going to land in front of me from the start and are going to be awfully hard to beat. But we'll have to work it out from there."

Dixon said he realized early days that Colt Thirty One was something special.

"I still remember the day I drove out to where he was being broken-in and sat behind him. I actually went up there to drive a few youngsters, but he was certainly the one that stood out," he said.

Dixon, who is based at the picturesque town of Tamborine, in the Gold Coast hinterland, prepares a team of around 60-70 horses with his wife Trista and a staff of 12.

The 46-year-old had a standout 2018-19 season in the sulky, with 237 winners ($1.9M in stakes), just a handful short of his personal best of 242 in 2009-10.

It was way back in 1994-95 when he reached the magical century for the first time – and in the 20 seasons since 1999-2000 he has topped 100, bettering the double century on nine occasions.

While Dixon says Colt Thirty One could be the best horse he's had, it's a close call because he still has great admiration for Majestic Mach (Mach Three-Midnight Lace (Fake Left), a pacer he raced for five seasons from 2012.

Majestic Mach won at his first 12 starts, then finished second, before reeling off another consecutive dozen victories.

"He finished with 35 wins, including four Group One events, for nearly $800,000 and it was a big blow went he went amiss in late 2017," Dixon said.

Other outstanding horses that come to mind to race in the familiar Dixon stable black and white checks include I Am Sam, Atomic Art, Jeremy Lee, Majestic Major, Get In The Groove, Cherish The Moment and a whole lot more!

Dixon, who admits he was "pretty much hopeless at school", was born into harness racing, being the son of Hall of Famer, Bill Dixon.

Prior to relocating his family to south-east Queensland in the early 80s, Bill Dixon, was a household name in the north of the state. Training out of Townsville, he was the leading trainer-driver for a number of seasons. Bill is now retired and a resident of an aged care facility.

The father-and-son hold a unique record on the Gold Coast. Bill won the last race at the old Owen Park track (Queen Street, Southport) and then when racing shifted to the now-defunct Parklands complex (at the corner of Smith St and Parklands Drive), Grant won the final race conducted at that venue, in 2013.

Parklands was closed when the site was formally designated as the athletes' village for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

 

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura