By Duane Ranger
4YO Diamond Jewels first ballot A Damn Good Excuse is the best of John and Josh Dickie’s four chances at the Harness Racing Waikato meeting at Camridge Raceway tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday).
It’s the ‘calm before the Saturday Harness Jewels storm’, and for the first time in a long time, Josh Dickie doesn’t have any drives on his former home track.
However the 25-year-old Clevedon-based reinsman has five on Group One Saturday, possibly six, if A Damn Good Excuse makes the $150,000 Final for 4-year-old pacing mares.
“She’s first emergency and has drawn well at three in the first race so we are hoping for a scratching. I think she’s definitely the best of our five pacers starting on Tuesday though,” Dickie said.
The father-and-son training duo will line up Majestic John in the opening event on Tuesday – the $5,500 Harness Jewels C1-C3 pace for amateur drivers. Alan Shand will do the steering.
Then the Dickies will have to wait until the last race – the $6,000 Novatel C1-C3 mares’ pace for junior drivers to see their other three starters greet judge, Colin Courtney.
Ben Butcher will drive Joanednobetter (3), Tony Cameron will steer Vibe (4), while stable junior Robert Argue will get behind A Damn Good Excuse.
Dickie said it would be nice to win his first Jewels crown on Saturday. He has placed behind The Fascinator in 2014 (4yo Diamond pace), and his Dad has had two Jewels training victories with Paramount Geegee (3yo Ruby trot) and Flying Isa (2yo Ruby trot) – both in 2011.
His five drives on Saturday are Change The Rulz (race 1), Jewel On The Beach (Race 3), Paramount Dream (race 4), Bettor Think Quick (race 5), and Motown (race 9).
Dickie said Motown was racing well and was the pick of his drives in the last event – the $150,000 Emerald for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings.
Here’s what he had to say about his five stable runners on Tuesday:
Race 1: Majestic John (9) – “This is his first race for three months and he has been trialling okay. He’s a pretty sharp type but Alan is going to have to drive him for luck from one on the second draw because the one horse isn’t a guaranteed leader.”
Race 9: Joanednobetter (3) – “She has a good driver and is racing consistently well at the moment. She got too far back in her amateur race last start at Cambridge last week and came home real well for fourth. She has won on the track twice before and can get some of it from the kind draw.”
Race 9: Vibe (4) – “I can’t split her and Joanednobetter in this race. They are both good chances. There’s not much between them. This mare was a good second behind Shantahlia Knight at the same Cambridge meeting two Thursdays ago. She’s won three of her eight starts on the track and placed in three others, so she has to be right in it.”
Race 9: A Damn Good Excuse (5) – “You would think the Jewels first emergency might go close in this and that’s why I rate her our best chance at the meeting. She comes into the race really well having won and placed from her last three starts in tougher Auckland fields. This will be her first race at Cambridge but I think Robert can do the job here. Win bet.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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