Fliedner flies local flag as racing returns

NOT many Bendigo meetings go by without local trainer Shane Fliedner saddling up a runner or two.

So it should have come as no surprise to any racing follower to have seen his prominent red and white diagonal stripes in the winner’s stall when racing returned to the venue last Friday following a nearly five month hiatus due to a $1m track renovation.

Neatly a third of Fliedner’s 332 career winners have been claimed on his home track.

With the stable represented by two of what he himself considered reasonable chances in three-year-old fillies Shipstern Bluff and Some Chance, the dual Group 3 winning trainer must have been counting down the days in the lead up to Friday, with the track having been out of action since last year’s Bendigo Cup meeting.

His optimism apparently was not shared by punters, with No Chance starting at $61 and Shipstern Bluff at a more reasonable $19.

Fliedner would have the last laugh when Shipstern Bluff, ridden by his nephew Harry Coffey, backed up her strong effort at Swan Hill 12 days earlier behind the smart Tony and Calvin McEvoy trained filly So Enchanting, by breaking her maiden at start number four over 1600m.

Perched outside the leader Kokonda, the daughter of Blue Point and Strum Cha showed plenty toughness to hit the front with 200m to travel and stave off a fast-finishing Ask Your Mother for a .35 length win.

Despite the long odds, Fliedner insisted he was a lot more confident than most about his promising stayer’s hopes.

“Her last start was really good, she had to do a fair bit of work at Swan Hill and then the pressure was put on her at the 600 and I thought she was going to drop out,” he said.

“But she came again and ran second and to a pretty smart horse.

“We were fairly confident, but nobody else was.”

Fliedner declared his other runner on the day Some Chance as a little unlucky to have had to settle for fourth in the 1300m maiden.

“But she’s still learning. Hopefully there is a meeting here coming up shortly and we can bring her back here,” he said.

“They are a couple of nice three-year-olds that have a future.

“Hopefully we can pick off a nice midweek race.”

Fliedner and Coffey gave an immediate thumbs up to the track renovation, the first at this scale at Bendigo in 27 years, involving the laying of around 66,000 square metres of kikuyu turf.

The base will be over sown with rye grass in the lead-up to the club’s Golden Mile standalone race day on Saturday, 2 May.

“The track is terrific and the staff do a great job,” Fliedner said.

Added Coffey: “It’s a beautiful service. It’s quite wind and it’s drying out, but it’s racing like it’s in the good range.

“It’s nice to have Bendigo back.”

Coffey hailed the win a ‘nice confidence-booster’ for both the horse and himself heading into a big day at Flemington the following day, highlighted by his Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) win aboard Light Infrantry man for trainer Ciaron Maher.

“She was good … I was confident though. I was happy to ride her in a manner that had her up amongst it,” he said.

“She’s pretty one-paced, but her run at Swan Hill was pretty good.

“I actually beat her at Swan Hill and I thought Shane might have cracked the sads with me, but we buttered up again today and I have made up for it.

“Logan (McNeil) rode her really well last, but Logan’s not his nephew, so I pulled trump and got the ride back.”

The feature race last Friday, the $30,000 Otis Foundation Marong Cup (2400m), was taken out by the Patrick and Michelle Payne-trained Customer Service.