It’s now quite apparent the Andy Gath trained Yambukian wouldn’t have been out of place contesting the heats at the recent Inter Dominion carnival in Brisbane.
The form horse of Victorian harness racing notched up his fifth consecutive win at Melton when he displayed his trademark staying prowess accounting for his rivals in the Hygain Victory Free For All.
Kate Gath opted to move up outside the leader with 1600 metres to travel on Yambukian before surging to the front past Triple Eight approaching the home turn, and the son of Bettors Delight clung on to score by a half head from Young Bluey.
When quizzed, Gath said the seven-year old’s stellar form may be attributed to a change in training routine.
“He’s done it tough every time and tends to get beat the times he’s led,” Gath said.
“I don’t really know to be honest, we kind of gallop him now at home and he’s a bit more seasoned and has had a fair bit of hard racing and he has just got better and better,” she said.
Gath conceded Yambukian was unlucky not to get a berth on the float en route to Brisbane earlier this month.
“I did say to Andy before the Inters that perhaps we should be taking this one because he is so honest, he’s got gate speed and you can do whatever you want with him and he will just keep trying as he did tonight,” she said.
Gath didn’t rule out thoughts surrounding the Victoria Cup.
“Who knows at that time you know you have to be going great but he wouldn’t be out of his depth would he?” she said.
Promising four-year-old mare Sweet Ideal will be aimed at the Vicbred Super Series later in the year after completing back to back wins at Melton,
Despite being ‘in season’ and racing keenly mid race, Sweet Ideal was still able to appease punters and the $1.55 favorite managed to stave off the challenges in the home straight to score by a metre from Hez All Rock and Odin.
Driver Darryl Lawlor admitted he had slight concerns prior and during the race.
“I was a little bit worried because she’s in season and she over raced a little bit in that first lap and I had to grab another grip and it the first time over this trip and to her credit she got the job done,” Lawlor said.
Lawlor said more racing over the 2240 metres will season the daughter of Sweet Lou for the Vicbred Series.
“We’ll try and go every second week over the 2240 to get her up for the Vicbred because she’ll need to relax a lot better than that to be a chance in the series,” he said.
