PACING
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THEY say good things come to those who wait and that is certainly the case for Oberon trainer Dave Reynolds.
He has been involved with the harness racing industry for more than 20 years and on Sunday at Menangle Park he finally landed his first Group win thanks to a six-year-old gelding called Satellite Ace.
He did it in fine style as well, peeling off a record third quarter split of 26.4 seconds as he zipped away from his rivals in the 1,609 metres Group 2 Carnival Stakes.
That the race was part of the InterDominion Grand Final day meeting added to an afternoon Reynolds is not likely to forget anytime soon.
“I have been working with horses for more than 20 years, but I’ve only been training in my own name for the last 18 months,” he said.
“It is the biggest win I’ve had so far. It was pretty electric down there, there was plenty of atmosphere.”
While Satellite Ace started the race as a $6.80 chance, Paul Fitzpatrick’s Holy Camp Clive holding $3.10 favouritism, the Oberon runner did have talented reinswoman KerryAnn Turner in the gig.
She had driven the Aces N Sevens x Satellite Dancer gelding to three wins and six placings at Harness Racing NSW’s headquarters last year, so knew exactly what he was capable of.
That allowed her to make the winning move halfway through the contest.
With Dave Reynolds watching on with his father Russell, who bred Satellite Ace, and his son Justin, they saw Turner opt to let others battle for the lead early due to her barrier 10 draw.
It was at the halfway point after a flying 26.4 opening quarter she began a three-wide charge forward, Satellite Ace good enough to round up his rivals. But Turner was not just content to lead – she urged the Oberon chance to keep going.
The scorching third sectional saw him zip away from the chasing pack, headed by Dynamite Denn Nee, by five lengths. Heading into the final bend that margin further blew out.
Still, the trainer was nervous.
“When he gets clear he can switch off, so that was the only worry with him, but he zipped away from them,” Reynolds said.
“From about 100 out he was looking around a bit, but luckily he was far enough in front by then.”
Satellite Ace did tire a little in the run to the post, but still did enough to beat The Lagoon runner Ardle McArdle ($8.80, Amanda Turnbull) by 3m with a further 4m back to third placed Bettor Bet Black ($34.50, David McCall). The winner rated a career-best 1:51.7.
“She drives him most of the time if she hasn’t got one of her own horses in the race, she knows him pretty well. He made a three wide move, he probably went a bit earlier than I thought, but KerryAnn’s move paid off,” Reynolds said.
“I thought if he ran to his best that he could win the race, but I knew he’d need a bit of luck going from the 10.
“It was a good field, but it was probably a bit down on what he had been racing against, he’d been racing against a bit higher class before this.
“He’s actually run 1:51 a couple of times before when he’s got beat, so it was nice he won this one. It was the fastest third quarter at Menangle ever.”
Reynolds said he has no immediate plans for Satellite Ace, but no doubt he will have more Menangle starts ahead of him.