Quality mare breaks long drought

QUALITY mare Red Hot Tooth broke a long drought from the winners’ circle when triumphant at Tabcorp Park Melton last night.

Racing against the southern hemisphere’s best trotters on a regular basis, Red Hot Tooth has been absent from the number one stall since January 2019.

During the interim, the Kari Males-trained squaregaiter has run nine seconds, including four at Group One level!

“She has been beaten a short half-head or a half-neck in three Group Ones in the past year,” Males said.

“She has been so consistent and in the past 18 months she has earned just over $150,000 but only managed two wins.

“Just a touch of luck her way and her record would look a lot different.

“Last night was a big drop in class from what she’s been going against and she was able to make the most of it.”

Driven by champion horsewoman Kerryn Manning, Red Hot Tooth was quickly angled away from the pegs from her inside of the second row draw to settle towards the tail of the field as Auntie Poppy worked to the lead from barrier seven.

Taken three-wide during the middle stages, Red Hot Tooth was sent forward to test the front runner from the ‘death seat’.

Forging her way to the lead at the top of the home straight, the daughter of Yankee Paco completed a nine-and-a-half metre win from Auntie Poppy, with Andyou two metres away third in 1:56.2 over 1720 metres.

“I was confident with her as she has been working sensationally, couldn’t be any better, but the draw was a bit of a worry plus having two ODM’s outside her,” Males said.

“Kerryn got her away and into the open brilliantly and then summed up the race perfectly.”