Poised to play strong hand

QUIET compared to previous seasons during the first two rounds of Vicbred Super Series heats, premier trainer Emma Stewart is poised to play a strong hand tonight.

Stewart has dominated the futurity in recent years, including winning 15 of the 21 two, three and four-year-old heats in 2024.

Stewart’s haul included an incredible clean sweep of the eight three-year-old heats, which saw her become just the second trainer to win every race on a card.

Stewart was also successful in nine of the 11 semis in which she had a runner, which equalled her Australian record for the most wins at a meeting!

Just to highlight the numbers further, since 2018 Stewart’s remarkable Vicbred performances have seen her win 144 of the 229 pacing qualifiers in which she has had a runner.

So far this season, however, Stewart has won four of the 11 two and three-year-old heats.

Obviously a strike rate of 36.6 per cent is a terrific achievement, but it is down on last year’s 71.4 and Stewart’s overall rate of 62.8 during the last eight seasons!

That is likely to change in Bendigo, where Stewart has eight starters across four heats – including three odds-on favourites and a second favourite!

Miki To Success – for the record pronounced Mykey To Success – leads the way at $1.35 in the second qualifier for entires and geldings.

Fresh from his dominating South Australia Cup campaign, which saw him smash the Globe Derby track record, Miki To Success is expected to have no trouble from barrier three.