Cup meeting facing doom without Loone

WHEN Shane Loone arrives at Mount Gambier tomorrow night hopefully there is at least one committee member waiting thank him.

The card is supposed to be the club’s premier meeting of the year, but has been lucky to precede – thanks in no small part to Loone’s support.

As it is, the Trotters’ Cup and Pacers’ Derby – two of the main features – were cut from the program due to insufficient nominations!

After being left scrambling to obtain enough pacers to conduct the meeting, the evening will consist of seven races contested by a total of 49 runners.

An interesting comparison is Ben Yole has 40 members of his stable engaged in Sunday’s Launceston program.

But how does Loone figure into it?

Firstly, he is the only one of the top 10 trainers on South Australia’s premiership with starters at the meeting.

As mentioned earlier there are only seven races, of which four have a mere six runners.

Loone has entrants in three of them, meaning without Loone making the almost six-hour trip from his Two Wells-base that trio of races would also have been scrapped.

Then there is the flagship event – Mount Gambier Pacing Cup – which has attracted a field of nine – including two from the Loone stable…Jakes Sportwriter and Secret Jack!

Drawn the second row, the pair will need plenty of luck according to Loone.

“The draw has made it tough on them, especially on such a small track,” Loone said. “It’s hard to see Stratofortress being beaten, but we’ll be trying our best.”

Loone rates Victory Medal, which has drawn five in one of the six-horse fields, as his best chance of the night.

“I’ve only had him for three starts, for a second and a win at his last two starts, and his work has been solid this week,” Loone said. “He should be hard to beat again.”