Queen reigns

By Michael Howard (HRV)

A stunning Queen Elida sprint rattled the foundations of Australasian trotting at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday as the emerging star blew away her rivals and signalled even better was to come.

The headliner of a standout night for trainer Brent Lilley and reinsman Chris Alford, who combined for a treble of wins, Queen Elida’s stunning sectionals in winning the Woodlands Stud Carlottas Pride Trotters Free For All briskly enhanced her flourishing reputation.

“She’s pretty special,” said Alford, who was pressed on TrotsVision to rate the best trotters he’d driven.

“Wobelee was super, Sleepee’s been really good, Noopy (Kiosk), Kyvalley Blur – he was a really good one – won heats of the Inter and all that. Elida’s right up there with them.”

The champion reinsman was then asked if she had the potential to be the best of the lot.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said. “She’s only had one blemish on her record since she’s been here. That was in a Breeders Crown as a two-year-old, she was sick that night and went horrible. Apart from that she’s been outstanding and only going to get better.”

The generous words were a reaction to her devastating performance in the nights Group 3 for trotting mares, with Queen Elida at the back of the field entering the final turn but cornered spectacularly to draw level with the leaders.

She then put paid to any challengers in the straight, clearing out for a 13.7-metre win, stopping the clock in a 56.23-second last half. It was 1.32 seconds quicker than the next best, second-placed Peakz Luck, despite Queen Elida covering three more metres in the final half than any other horse.

Making the win all the more impressive was that Queen Elida mowed down the front runners despite leader Aldebaran Crescent getting an easy lead and following up with modest first (30.2) and second (31.7) quarters.

“In the run I was cursing a little bit that they were going that slow, but she wasn’t that far off them,” Alford said. “I knew how fast she was, but I didn’t think she could go from last to first three-wide around the bend and put them away like that.”

The win was the Love You mare’s 13th from her 23rd start and has only fuelled aspirations for her, which Alford is hopeful will include a tilt at the 2022 Inter Dominion, which returns to Victoria in November.

“The way she’s going and if she stays well and keeps improving I hope they leave her around for the Inter Dominion later in the year,” he said.

“If she got in a race where there are a lot of good ones and they go hard all the way she’d still have that great finish.”