John Dunne
Aldebaran Vera rounded off her Inter Dominion preparation completing back to back wins at Melton in the APG Mares Trotters Free For All on Saturday night.
Jason Lee opted to leave the one out one back trail on Aldebaran Vera with a lap to travel and the favourite surged to the lead and was never headed thereafter holding a three metre margin on the line from Shes Ruby Roo in a mile rate of 1:55.2.
After the race Lee was buoyed by the mare’s racing demeanour.
“She was good, she did what she had to and her manners were even better tonight so Glen’s
Craven) done a good job and he said she was really good last start- she was nice and relaxed tonight and went when she had to,” Lee said.
Lee believes the Margaret Lee prepared Aldebaran Vera’s feature race record should read better than it does.
“She has been pretty good since day one and she should have probably won a couple of Group 1 races as a two-year-old, one night I mucked up and got a wheel and a couple of other times she was
a bit green and didn’t really know what she was doing,” he said.
“She has raced at the highest level all the way through and we’ve always had a really high opinion of her, she’s had so much ability that we have persevered with her and she is one of mum’s favorites so she will be really happy.”
Earlier in the night the Emma Stewart trained mare Sweet Bella provided Ryan Duffy with his first win for the state’s leading stable when she took out the Renown Silverware Mares Free For All.
Duffy pressed forward at the start taking Sweet Bella to the lead inside the first 400 metres of the race while the $1.50 favorite Rakero Rebel was caught leading the outside horses over the 1720 metre sprint trip.
While Rakero Rebel was placed under pressure approaching the home turn, it was left up to Sweetnikkilou to issue a challenge in the home straight to Sweet Bella ($3.40) who held on to score
by a neck in a slick mile rate of 1:51.3.
Duffy said the stable expected the daughter of Sweet Lou to improve on her placing behind Jilliby Willow at Melton a fortnight ago.
“She was doing it pretty well under her own steam, she got it pretty easy early but I’m just thankful to get the opportunity to drive these horses,” Duffy said.
“She stripped fitter for the last run and Clayton and Emma were happy with how she came through that run, they were expecting her to go a lot better tonight and she put the writing on the wall that she’s a good mare,” he said.
