Talented trotter goes from toothache to headache

Dragonstone (nearest camera) was brave in winning last Friday but meets a stronger field tonight.

The headache horse of Arna Donnelly’s stable has a few problems of her own at Alexandra Park tonight.

But that doesn’t mean Dragonstone can’t win her $35,000 TAB Racing Club Metro Final and give her trainer a shot at the feature-race double.

The Metro series, made up of heats then finals for nearly double the stake, have been a huge help in maintaining field size and interest during harness racing’s winter months, and tonight’s two fit the bill: even and interesting.

Donnelly has last Friday’s impressive winner Dragonstone in the Trot final and a trio in Ragnar Lothbrok, Final Change and Beta Prepare in the pacing final, a representation that mirrors her strong stable numbers.

“We have plenty of horses. I have 32 in work now and will probably have about 40 by the end of the month when some others come back in,” says the Cambridge-based trainer.

“Things are going well, we have good numbers and great owners and staff.”

Dragonstone has been one of the most labour-intensive horses in Donnelly’s care this season but it appears to be a fight worth winning.

“She has always had really good ability but she has been a hard horse to train,” says Donnelly.

“She runs on adrenaline a bit so she has had to learn to control that and then earlier this year she had a really bad tooth issue, which required surgery and took her a while to get over.

“She has also improved as she has strengthened so we think she has plenty of wins in her.”

The potential problems for Dragonstone tonight are that it will be her first race over 2700m, and she finds herself back on a 20m handicap in a race stacked with in-form horses.

That includes last Friday’s huge winners Crackerjack and Con Grazia Love, as well as Pantani, who was eye-catching in his first run back and the longer distance tonight should suit him better.

“It is a good race and it won’t be easy to win but if she begins well that would really help,” says Donnelly.

The $35,000 Pacing Final is also stacked with winter form and Donnelly says her three reps are in a similar position to many others in the race.

“In this grade in the pacing races, a lot of it comes down to what sort of run they get because they are so even,” explains Donnelly.

“Take a horse like Ragnar Lothbrok. He paced his last 800m in 54.9 seconds last Friday and only finished fifth.

“That sums up this grade but mine all have a chance.

“They all have more wins in them, Beta Prepare has got better with the racing this season.

“Those trips away down to Palmy have really helped toughen him up and we are seeing him show his real ability now.”

The pacing final could be decided by tempo, with horses like Roy Kent (R5, No.1) and Turn O The Tide (9) favoured if they stay handy without much pressure but any early burn could assist the likes of Kevin Kline, Hooray Henry and You Little Beauty, while Twista – who had no luck last Friday – could be the blowout hope

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.