“She had tendon problems so we ended up putting her in the paddock for a season or a couple of years. She looked good so we got her back in,” McLellan said.
Hillary qualified as a five-year-old at Winton in March 2022 and had just three starts at that age. She also raced lightly as a six-year-old, earning a second-place finish.
She has had a busier season this year, taking one win and two third places from twelve starts.
Driver Mark Hurrell dropped Hillary back on the outside three times. As he reached 300 yards he hooked her four wide and she charged down the outside to beat Honeycomb by a length and a quarter.
“She doesn’t have a lot of high speed, so it suits her when they go fast and she can get over them. That’s her choice.”
The winning time was 1-54.3.
Hillary is one of the last descendants of Somebeachsomewhere to race in New Zealand and is out of It’s Ella, who won sixteen races including two Premier Mares Championships and a G1 New Zealand Standardbred Breeders Stakes.
“She’s always looked good enough to win a race we’ve done. So maybe I’ll get a colt out of her, or maybe we’ll give her a few more starts to see if she gets the grade up.”
At stud, It’s left Ella Tetrick (4), Ellz Angel (6) and Itoje (4). McLellan has geldings by He’s Watching and Sweet Lou waiting in the wings and says both are close to qualifying.
“I think both will make it.”
It was a super fast Central Southland Raceway today with the Brett Gray-trained two-year-old Side Hustle (Always B Miki) breaking a track and Southland record.
His time for the 1609m run was 1-52.7, lowering the previous record of 1-53.9 set by Captain Tom at Winton in 2022. The time was also a new Southland record. The previous mark of 1-53.6 was achieved by Duke Of Cornwall when he won at Wyndham.
Side Hustle’s time was also close to breaking the New Zealand record of 1-51.9. reached by Ashley Lopez.
For full race results, click here.
Through Bruce Stewartfor Harnesslink
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