While most of Dunedin has been crying out for better beach weather this summer, pacer All Bling has found local conditions exactly to her liking.
The Mach Three mare scored a surprise win at 18-to-one odds in fillies and mares company at Waikouaiti, on Sunday.
The performance came in her first start for Mosgiel trainer Darryn Simpson, after previously lining up in Canterbury for Murray Edmonds. That made the win extra special for Simpson, as he has a long association with the Edmonds family.
"They have been pretty good supporters of me," he said. "I worked for Murray for a long time.''
While most Dunedinites have been regularly waiting for a good day to go to the beach, it hasn't stopped Simpson getting his team there.
The surf and sand have been a crucial part of All Bling's training since she arrived from Canterbury.
``I have had her down the beach a couple of times since I've had her,'' he said.
"It worked nice on Friday [at the beach]. I was rapt with it.''
The horse could also prove a good test case for the introduction of the new national harness racing handicapping system, in March.
Simpson felt All Bling would be highly competitive in maiden grade, but wasn't sure how she would measure up in the tougher c1 grade.
"That one win grade is pretty tough, but she did give me a feel she would win a race easy.
"I have had a few in the last couple of seasons that can win a race, but just can't get to that next [grade],'' he said.
The trainer went close to a race-to-race double with trotter It's Elvis, who went within a head of reeling in evergreen campaigner Sarah Palin.
The Margo Nyhan trotter clung on to a narrow lead until the winning post came, to score her seventh win at start 152.
The Pegasus Spur mare has racked up an incredible 43 career placings as well. Six of those seven wins and 22 of her placings have come on grass circuits.
Time will tell whether 3 yr-old winner One Yankee Ginga will rack up such a record when he reaches the age of 8. He was a dominant winner, clearing maiden grade in race 2, on Sunday.
To rack up more than 150 starts, the trotter would need to head in a similar direction to his full brother, The Fiery Ginga, who got to 134 starts by his 8yr-old season.
Trainer Robbie Holmes has a different approach in mind. He will be looking for bigger tracks, such as Waikouaiti, which suit his horse.
"We will probably stick to the bigger tracks at the moment,'' he said.
"He has just been slowly coming through. He is steering better now. That is the main thing.''
He will target some of the big races The Fiery Ginga tackled when he was a 3yr-old.
One Yankee Ginga got his first taste of that in his previous start. He had a tough run when running down the track in Chevron Express's Hambletonian Classic at Ashburton, last weekend.
"He will go round in the Sales Series trot and that sort of thing, further down the track,'' Simpson said.
- By Jonny Turner
