Forbes trainers Jason Gaffney and Murray Sullivan have had a good year on the NSW harness racing circuit but they hope to make it even better before their season ends on September 1.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The cousins, who currently work 20 horses at their Racecourse Road stables, have trained 34 winners so far this season, with hopes to reach 50 wins in the next two months.
Gaffney this week revealed Sullivan had recently notched up his 50th win in the gig, and said they would like to reach that milestone in trained winners too.
“Murray drove his 50th winner the other week, and we’ve gone past the stables’ 30 winners of last year. We have 34 at the moment,” he said yesterday, after Montana Maestro recorded an impressive win at Young on Tuesday night.
“We’ve got 20 horses in work and a fair few yearlings that are just coming through now so we might get a few more yet,” he said.
Montana Maestro’s latest win - by 7.5m in Tuesday’s Young Services Club Pace (2100m) - brings the four-year-old’s season tally to four wins and nine placings from 20 starts.
It was the Forbes team’s second successful trip to Young in four days, after they claimed a family trifecta on Saturday.
Murray Sullivan drove the winner, the well backed Our Mackalena which was having its first start for Gaffney, with Montana Maestro running second, while Braden Sullivan (Murray’s older brother) drove third placed Sure What Ever, trained by their 82-year-old grandfather Bob Lee.
While the Gaffney-Sullivan-Lee trio were the top three favourites and didn’t garner a massive pay-out on the TAB, Gaffney said it was a great result.
“The trifecta only paid about $20, but it was good to get a result,” he said.
“Pop’s horse [Sure What Ever] was the third favourite, but came from three back behind the leader, so there was no team driving involved,” he said.
“We were all on the fence so there was no way any of us helped each other out.”
Gaffney said Montana Maestro’s form was particulary encouraging, having either won or placed in three of the last five starts.
He is now being rested in preparation for a trip to Parkes in early July.
The Sullivan-Gaffney team will also have starters at Dubbo tomorrow night and Wagga Wagga on Saturday.
* * *
In other harness racing news, the industry is mourning the death of stalwart Eric Hando who passed away last Friday at the age of 95.
Hando was inducted as a ‘living legend’ of harness racing in 2004 and spent many years running the successful Peak Hill breeding operation Rosewood Stud.
The Hando family settled in Peak Hill in the 1890s and it was Eric’s father, William, who identified the value of stallions with Globe Derby blood. Rosewood Stud stood a number sires including Revlis Peak, Lucky Western, Peak Hill, Silver Peak and Dual Peak and is recognised as the oldest standardbred stud still in operation in Australia.
Eric bred the well-performed mare Scotirra, a heat winner of the 1966 Inter Dominion at Harold Park. The daughter of Scottish Brigade won the Spring Carnival Handicap in 1963 and went on to win the Spring Cup twice (1965, 1966). In the 1970s Rosewood Stud imported stallions such as Sheer Genius, Quick Return and Tarport Bill.
Eric is survived by his wife of 70 years Dorothy. His funeral will be held at St Stephens, Peak Hill tomorrow at 11am.