By David Nagel
KOOWERUP trainer Neil ‘Bluey’ Preston and owner-driver John McGuinness have proved the old saying correct -‘patience is a virtue’ after their pacer Zipping Elmo won his first race in 30 attempts at Cranbourne on Saturday night.
The four-year-old son of Julius Caesar-Lotaliberty surprised many with his three-metre victory in the $5000 Hygain Pace (2080m) -starting at the massive odds of $61.80 on the tote.
Formerly trained by Paul Weidenbach, Zipping Elmo has shown steady improvement since switching to the Preston yard roughly four months ago, striking gold at his fourth run for the stable.
McGuinness, who has now driven Zipping Elmo at 10 of his 30 starts, said Saturday night’s victory was a tremendous thrill.
“Any race you win is a thrill, but we’ve been through a lot with this bloke so to win with him is pretty special,” McGuinness said.
“He’s really improved over the last few months and worked really well at Cranbourne on Wednesday, so we thought we were in it up to our ears. We got a slice of the good price, don’t worry about that.”
A former trainer himself, McGuinness has now retired but still sits in the sulky to drive the four horses he has in work.
Despite the horse’s poor record, McGuinness rates him highly amongst his stablemates.
“After Saturday night he’s our stable star,” the life-long harness racing participant said.
McGuinness drove Zipping Elmo a treat after drawing right behind the leader, following the speed throughout before gaining a late split courtesy of the sprint-lane to run clear of Tizeh Lucky Lady and Blue Chip Madam in the run to the line.
Zipping Elmo’s win provided a change of luck for the Lotaliberty breed, with three foals having now had 140 starts between them for just three victories.
Preston and McGuinness, veterans of the Gippsland racing circuit, will look to keep their momentum rolling over the coming weeks.
“We’ll race him at Warragul on Wednesday week (18 January) and then race him again a week later at Cranbourne,” McGuinness said.
“He’s gone up to C1 class now so we’ll be up against some other horses that have won some races.”
Local trainer Michael Hughes also had a victory at the meeting on Saturday night, with Rocknroll Gold winning the opening race on the card.
