Jilliby Ballerini capped off a big night at Melton with a dominant display in the Aldebaran Park Trotting Mares Free For All, extending her winning streak to five.
The talented mare blundered slightly at the start before settling towards the rear in the small six horse field while her stable mate Aldebaran Vera was able to dictate her own terms in front strolling through a 63.3 first half.
Jason Lee pulled off the pegs with a lap to travel and the favorite joined the leader with 400 metres to travel before gaining the upper hand over the last 50 metres to score by two and a half metres reeling off a 26.8 last 400 metres.
Lee admitted he was caught off guard when the mobile released the field.
“Early she made things interesting, she just threw her head and half caught the rein with her jaw breaker and over reacted and jumped off stride,” Lee said.
Lee said the lightly raced four-year-old will be set on a feature race path way.
“There’s the Great Square in Queensland and she’s got the Vicbred Sires and I think she’ll probably aim up at some of the better trot races at the end of the season,” Lee said.
“It’s been handy to race during the winter months when the really good ones aren’t around and she can hone in on her craft in preparation for some of the bigger races coming.”
Earlier in the night the Andy Gath trained Yambukian ($3 fav) continued his rich vein of form at Melton when he brought up his fourth consecutive win at headquarters in the Nevele R Stud Free For All.
The son of Bettors Delight assumed his customary role outside the leader Ghost Of Time before surging clear in the home straight to score comfortably by six metres from Keayang Tokyo in a mile rate of 1:52.5.
Winning driver Jordan Leedham conceded he enjoyed some early race good fortune.
“It was pretty lucky as when I was punching through early I was able to slot into the running line for 100 metres around the turn when they were going hard which was the difference in not burning myself too early and not being able to finish off,” Leedham said.
Meanwhile, Chris Lang’s Rubys Dream continued her picket line form line after chalking up her sixth consecutive win in the Haras Des Trotteurs Vicbred Platinum Trotting Mares Sprint Championship Final.
Despite being caught in the breeze, Rubys Dream forged to the lead on straightening and had sufficient in reserve to stave off the $2.50 favorite Mega Spur scoring by a metre in a mile rate of 1:56 for the 1720 metre sprint trip.
Lang said he only got busy on the mare in the last 400 metres of the race.
“She’s only lightly framed but she does a really good job and she was always going draw badly with the other good horses out the back,” Lang said.
“I looked at the form and thought that I only had to be in front on the line and that was the way it panned out,” he said.
