Master harness racing trainer Chris Lang is confident he can turn back the clock in Saturday night’s Breeders Crown final at Melton.
There was a time when Lang, then the “King of Trotting,” led the Breeders Crown to its own seven wins between 2002 and 2010 with superstars like Skyvalley, Let Me Thru and Kyvalley Road.
After some time out of the game, Lang and partner Sonia Mahar are back in search of another Crown victory with the immensely exciting I Am Wilma in the $60,000 Group 1 final for three-year-old fillies on Saturday evening.
Lang, who has also trained the great Sundons Gift and National Interest to win a series of major trotting competitions, thinks I Am Wilma could be his next star.
“She could be good, very good,” he said. “You don’t see a three-year-old filly going better, and I mean ever, than her last few runs.
“She was in the dead (outside the leader) and ran her final mile in 1min55sec at the final Bendigo start.
“It’s been a great six to eight weeks for her. Since Sonia and I changed her equipment and the way we train her, she’s been getting better and stronger. We always knew she had above-average power, but the strength and power she’s showing now is exciting.”
Lang is excited about the challenge of taking on one of Australasia’s best three-year-old trotting fillies, Gatesys Gem, in this Crown final.
“We have a lot of respect for her, she has the form on the board, we are confident we can match her,” he said.
“Even though we’ve moved in (I Am Wilma has gate four and Gatesy Gem gate five), we don’t need to lead to beat her.
“The last few rides have given us and Chris (Alford, driver) the belief to drive her with confidence and aggression.”
That’s Lang’s big opinion about I Am Wilma. He has not ruled out taking on Australia’s best open-age trotters in the $250,000 Great Southern Star on February 14.
“I haven’t discussed it with the owners as such, but it’s a conversation we’ll have after this week if she goes as I expect,” he said.
“Yes, this filly is about to turn four, but in the old racing season she would have turned four in October and Great Southern Star not until February.”
Lang and Mahar are already looking forward to the Great Southern Star with their rejuvenated open class star Ollivici, who will be 20e victory of his career at Melton last Saturday week.
“Sonia has done an excellent job with him adjusting his diet and training to resolve the tethering issues that have always plagued him,” Lang said.
“Despite everything he’s done, I think this is as good as we’ve ever had him.
“He has built a good record for a horse that was injured as a yearling and only gave 20 percent to get to the races. That was six years ago.
“He came second in a pair of (Group 1) Bill Collins Sprints and Just Believe only just beat him in one of them.
“If it hadn’t been for the clutch problems I think he could have achieved even more, but the way he’s going now he still has time.”
Through Tim O’Connor, for HRV
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