Photo: Angelique Bridson
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk
Winning trebles at Cambridge Raceway are starting to become a common occurrence for trainers Graeme Rogerson and Dylan Ferguson.
The Hamilton horsemen once again recorded a trio of wins at the Waikato track on Thursday night courtesy of I’llavabubbles, She Reigns, and Classy Operator.
All three runners were fresh-up and Ferguson said the stable was expecting a good night at the office.
“It was a good night and to be honest it was expected. We did have some nice horses there tonight,” Ferguson said.
“But it was their first run back from a spell, so they still had to get the job done.”
I’llavabubbles kicked the meeting off in good fashion for the stable when breaking maiden ranks in the Oktoberfest Tickets On Sale Now Mobile Pace (2200m).
She had previously finished fourth in the NZB Standardbred Harness Million 2 Final (1700m) and sixth in the Gr.1 Harness Jewels 2YO Diamond (1609m) so Ferguson was expecting a good result on Thursday, however, he admitted he thought she would have been more dominant than she was.
“I thought she would have won a bit easier, but they went 2:43 and she hasn’t had a trial,” Ferguson said.
“She is a nice filly. She raced against the best fillies as an early two-year-old. Dropping back to a maiden at Cambridge, she was the class horse of the field and got the job done well. It was a good win.”
Last year’s Dunstan Horsefeeds Cambridge Horse of the Year She Reigns picked up where she left off last season, winning the Dunstan Horsefeeds Handicap Trot (2700m) off a 60m handicap.
“Out of all of them she needed the run the most,” Ferguson said. “She normally does take a fair bit of work and it is hard to get them ready for a 60m handicap.
“She went 3.31, which is certainly not a bad trot, but it is well within her capabilities, and she is going to improve a stack with that run.
“There is a fillies and mares race for her in two weeks at Cambridge. That was why we raced her tonight, to get that bit of race fitness into her, and hopefully she will be 110 percent for that.”
Group One performer Classy Operator proved he was too classy for his rivals in the Christmas @ The Raceway, Tickets On Sale Now Mobile Pace (2200m), winning by 1-3/4 lengths.
“He went well,” Ferguson said. “He is probably going to go in the Sires’ Stakes heat in a couple of weeks. He would want to have been winning that race to go on to that.
“He showed in the past that he is good enough to match it with the best of them. He should improve with that as well.”
The stable also picked up placings with Funny Face and Holyrood.
“They are both nice fillies. They went well,” Ferguson said.
“Funny Face did everything right and Holyrood tried hard again.
“They are going to win their fair share of races as well but tonight they just found a couple better.”
