Astute horseman dominates heats

RENOWN for his prowess with trotters, Anton Golino dominated last night’s Need For Speed heats at Tabcorp Park Melton.

Four qualifiers were conducted throughout the evening with Golino completing a treble.

Golino’s haul included a clean sweep of the fillies’ division, with which he has a strong affiliation.

The astute horseman has won three fillies’ Finals, but is yet to enjoy success in the colts’ and geldings’ category.

Golino secured the 2017 Final with Une Belle Allure before following with Amour De Frere the next year.

Im Ready Jet rounded out Golino’s trio in 2020.

This time around, Golino will head into next week’s Group One with heat winners Amandine and Courmayeur as well as Egret, which was runner-up to Courmayeur.

Amandine rated 1:57.9 over 1720 metres, with her time half a second quicker than Courmayeur.

“We’ve had a bit of luck in the fillies’ series and hopefully that will be the case again next week,” Golino said. “We have a good hand in the Final, now we’ll wait and see how they draw.”

Thanks to Cravache Dor’s victory – and Iron Love’s third – Golino has two chances to capture the ‘boys’ Final.

Boasting three wins and a second from four starts this season, Cravache Dor rated 2:01.9 for the 1720-metre trip.

“He showed potential last year, but has come back a better racehorse this time in,” Golino said. “He got the run of the race last night, but still had to be good enough to take advantage of it.”