ELBORON, lucky to be alive let alone pacing, broke through for his first career win at his home Tamworth Paceway on Thursday.
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The Tony Missen-trained gelding, driven by Tony’s brother, Peter Missen, finished powerfully to beat The Ultimate Legacy by 2m in a 2:5 mile rate for his three Tamworth owners – Tamworth Harness Racing Club director Greg McDonnell, Bob Petersen and Tony Missen.
“We bred him,” Tony Missen said.
“His mum (Eowyn) was a fast mare – we won six or eight with her.
“Pete loves this bloke.
“He’s going to be a big boy when he fills out.”
That he’s alive to race is a bit of good fortune.
Just born, he suffered a nick on his nearside hip. It became infected and he had to be bottle-fed for a few weeks.
It also left a large scar he carries to this day.
Peter Missen believes he can continue to develop.
“He ran third at Newcastle, beaten a head a head going 2mins at his second start,” Missen said.
“He showed us a bit of ability but has taken a long while to sort out a lot of problems.
“He’s hung in, pulled and hit his knees but we’ve finally sorted all of them out.
“And it’s great to win for Greg (McDonnell) and Bob (Petersen).
“They’ve stuck with Tone through all the hard times.
“And he just travelled beautiful through the run.
“It didn’t look like he’d get beaten.”
He said his brother made the right call on Thursday.
“He said to follow Ernie’s horse (favourite Gena’s Delight) and we’d get a good spot.”
Peter Missen did that and was able to be close enough at the turn to finish powerfully for a breakthrough win.
“He went super, was very impressive,” Missen said.
Missen had a frustrating end to the meeting when Soho Eros almost snared the Vale Percy Verning Pace (1980m), the final race on the eight-race TAB meeting.
Gallant Soho Eros went down by 1m to the Ken Natty-trained Jedi Superstar.
Peter Missen had to contend with more than just Jedi Superstar’s big heart and staying power.
He said it wasn’t the only hindrance he had.
“My whip and the reins got tangled,” he admitted.
“Then we hit the peg and it nearly tipped me out.”
In the end he lost by a narrow metre for a race in honour of one of the true gentleman in harness racing – Percy Verning.
Percy, father of Tamworth pacing legend Ian “Spud” Verning, passed away April 27, aged 98.
Natty was delighted to win the race in honour of such a fine man.
“It was great to win that for old Perc,” Natty said.
“He was a great friend to everybody.”
That Jedi Superstar, a big track horse, won at Tamworth was good as well.
“He likes the bigger tracks, he’s a staying type of horse,” Natty said.
“We’ll probably head back to Newcastle with him now.”
Tamworth Harness Racing Club races again on Thursday, May 22.
Two $5000 1609m races highlight the meeting, nominations for which close at 10am this Friday.