Green Miles and Junior Drivers Champs highlight Methven card

By Mike Love 

A big day of action at Methven today will see the trotters and pacers fight out their $25,000 Green Mile races while the junior drivers complete their national championship in what is poised to be a close finish.

Woodend Beach trainers Greg and Ben Hope line up three runners in the Yabby Dam Farms Trotters Green Mile (Race 11 - 5.25pm) including star trotter Muscle Mountain, Mr Love and Midnight Dash.

Current $1.95 favourite, Muscle Mountain comes into the race after a couple of stout efforts behind Gus during cup week. With his impeccable statistics over the mile journey (winning seven from 10) he clearly looks the strongest  chance of their trio, however Mr Love and Midnight Dash could not be ruled out as strong minor players.

"We're happy with all three trotters. They've all come through cup week well," said Ben Hope.

"They'll need luck from the draws though, it's not going to be easy. They should all be competitive."

Ben will link up with Muscle Mountain while Gemma Thornley takes the steer behind Midnight Dash ($11.00FF) while Blair Orange drives Mr Love ($6.50FF).

The Hope team line up four other runners on the card - Val Thorens ($6.00FF) in Race 4 with Ben Hope to drive, Franco Elvis ($4.80FF) with Seth Hill and Ar Gee Rulz ($10.00FF) both take their place in Race 5, while Blue Rock Dancer ($91.00FF) takes his spot in Race 9, the Methven 4 Square Supermarket Pacers Green Mile with Ben Hope.

Hope suggests that Franco Elvis would be the pick of their remaining chances outside of Muscle Mountain, Midnight Dash and Mr Love.

"Franco Elvis would be the best of the rest. He hit the line really well at his last start. He should have a good chance. The others will need to bring their manners and have a bit of luck," says Ben Hope. 

Race 9 on the programme is the Methven 4 Square Supermarket Pacers Green Mile which gets underway at 4:24pm.

Current favourite Pinseeker ($3.30FF) for trainer/driver Jonny Cox will be looking to settle after finding the occasion too much in the New Zealand Trotting Cup two weeks ago. The gelding has been recently based at the beach with Bob Butt which should assist the big gelding in overcoming his racing anxieties.

Other chances in the event include Mo'unga ($4.00FF) with Robbie Close, Built For Glory ($8.00FF) and Tim Williams, while Esmeralda ($5.00FF) gets her first test against cup class horses with a handy draw of five for trainer/driver Gerard O'Reilly. Horses like Franco Sinatra ($8.50FF) for Carter Dalgety and American Me ($13.00FF) for Sarah O'Reilly may offer value if the pace is on and the gaps appear.

The New Zealand Junior Drivers Championships will also be completed today with the final two heats. Current leader Monika Ranger will need to call on all of her expertise having drawn a couple of rough draws, while Carter Dalgety currently in second place arguably has the better drives of the two.

Seth Hill mathematically couldn't win the championship but has drawn both favourites in the remaining two heats (Franco Elvis and The Coalman).

The heats are Race 5, the Gluyas Motors NZ Junior Driver Champs (Heat 5) Mobile pace at 1:52pm and Race 7, the Ingold Building LTD NZ Junior Driver Champs (Heat 6) at 3:02pm.

Race one gets underway at 12:03pm.