Michael Howard
The plan may have been briskly thrown out the window but that didn’t stop Kerryn Manning and Adelle from storming home and scooping up tonight’s prized John Slack Memorial Trotters Cup.
It was the headliner as metro racing came to Ballarat and it didn’t disappoint with in-form Nephew Of Sonoko valiant in the breeze, giving them all something to chase, and Inter Dominion champ Maori Law overcoming a final straight mishap to almost claim the race.
However, tonight they were undone by Manning and her promising mare Adelle, who produced a career best win in the $30,000 Cup and scored in a photo finish.
“I was quietly confident, but knowing it was such a hard field it was going to be a hard task,” Manning told TrotsVision.
That task was made all the harder when Adelle was slow away from the gates, which saw Manning caught outside the running line and needing to slide back to the tail of the field.
“She usually comes off the gate OK, but she kind of walked out and then Nathan (Jack on Sundons Courage) kicked through underneath me and I had to grab hold,” Manning said. “It was a very long way back and I thought ‘well, this wasn’t in the plan’.
“But certainly following some nice horses up helped. She wanted to get on with the job down the back and ran out before I was ready and got Maori Law going and got a good drag into it from there.”
Adelle was five-wide around the final turn but swept home in a race best 28.73-second last quarter and 56.72-second last half to pip Maori Law by a short half-head, with Nephew Of Sonoko 1.3 metres back after a valiant run in the breeze.
“Her work’s been really good,” Manning said. “I’ve had no trouble with her for the last week and a half, for Adelle that’s really good news for me. And she proved tonight that she is on song.”
She said Adelle would likely next target the Lightfoot Laurels Group 3 standing start trot for mares at Melton on August 6.
Meanwhile, Like A Wildfire may have booked himself a ticket to Queensland’s Winter Carnival with a stunning final sprint at Ballarat that secured a third straight win.
Reinsman Allan McDonough said the 16-metre win, created with a 26.4-second last quarter, would only further fuel plans for a tilt at the $355,000 TAB The Blacks A Fake Queensland Championship.
