Louth Park trainer Melanie Elder goes into Saturday nights Final as the youngest trainer of the field after qualifying five year old gelding ASHARK.
Despite only holding a trainers licence for a few years Elder has experienced her share of feature race appearances including a Golden Guitar Final and a Inter City Pace Final with ASHARK.
The original series - $1Million Pace - was always on the agenda for ASHARK however a brief illness could have put pay to those plans, “He developed an infection which caused our original preparation to be slowed, then the COVID-19 restrictions implemented during late March meant we may not have had the opportunity get him fully prepared. We raced him and he was probably a run underdone but we pressed on”.
“With the collapse of the original series due to COVID-19 we were really excited to learn of the varied regional series to be conducted and again thought we would continue on” Elder said.
Qualifying in the first round of heats ASHARK race rearward before setting off three wide over the final 800 metres to over run the opposition.
Drawing the back line in Saturday night’s final will provide the opportunity to settle back in the field, different to the heat where the gelding had to be restrained from the outside of the front line.
“I’ve always had a goal to win a Group Race of any number – 1, 2 or 3 – and this is a great opportunity. Let’s hope that the concept remains and these opportunities are available in future years”