Young sharks circling in race to ID22

By Michael Howard (HRV)

The 2021 Inter Dom champ got his ticket to the 2022 big dance stamped last Friday night at Tabcorp Park Melton, but the young threats are emerging in the race to Victoria’s Inter Dominion Trotting Championship.
Maori Law was a dominant force in winning the Group 3 The George Gath, the second of four Victorian trotting races that carry Golden Tickets into ID22.
But while the reigning champ’s start in the series was always assured, Ollivici and Aldebaran Zeus are among those circling for his crown and the four-year-olds were big winners on the all-trotting card.
Ollivici completed his picket fence this season with a fifth straight win, scoring in the Tornado Valley Trot Final for trainer-driver Chris Lang.
The result gifted the reinsman his 1000th Australian driving win and the two-time Trotting Inter Dominion winner was again full of praise for his young gelding.
“He’s only four and 15 or 16 starts, he’s never really been fully wound up. We got him going a bit for tonight’s race, I still think there’s more in the tank,” Lang told TrotsVision.
“He’s still not proven at the elite level, but I don’t think there’s many I’d prefer to drive in front of him.”
Lang was speaking after Ollivici produced a dominant eight-metre win in the $30,000 Group 2, when he worked to the front and then got home in a 28.4-second final quarter to score from Sheza Pleasure.
It was a result that only fuelled Lang’s confidence.
“The Inter Dominion is our number one goal the way things are planning out at present,” he said. “I still have dreams of going back to Sweden one day, so we need to win that Inter Dominion. It’s a big ask for a four-year-old, but that’s our main game.
“He’s a very well gaited animal, he’s got high speed – for where he’s at I’d rate him as good as I’ve ever trained basically.”
No small praise from the man that guided Sundons Gift to the 2009 and 2010 Inter Dominions and a European campaign, when he contested The Elitlopp.