Accelere returns to form with impressive win

By Garrick Knight

An eye-catching run seven days prior gave an indication of what was to come from Accelere at Alexandra Park on Friday night.

On the back of an aggressive drive from usual pilot Todd Mitchell, the Logan Hollis and Shane Robertson-trained gelding thumped his opponents with a jarring 2.40.2 (1.57.1 MR) run.

Punters sent him out second favourite after an impressive finish in stronger company the week prior, despite only finishing sixth.

“We were pretty confident heading in to tonight,” said Hollis.

“His last three starts have been good, he’s just either had bad draws or bad luck.”

They thought enough of him to tackle the Sires Stakes series this time last year and then the Northern Derby back in March, suffice to say his connections have turned down numerous decent offers to date.

“He was just big and weak so we gave him a good two-month spell.”

Mitchell went forward and set a strong tempo, not giving anything else a look in, though Magilligan Point mounted a strong late challenge to push him close to the line.

“We don’t ever really tell Todd how to drive him.

“Basically, it was just ‘pop him out of the gate and see how he feels.”

Obviously, he was feeling pretty good.

There are no major plans for the son of Auckland Reactor, though he will be “raced sparingly” according to his trainers.

“We’ll just race him here and there and look after him.

“It’s nice to be able to win a race as a rating 50 that carries a stake of $15,000.

“It wasn’t the richest race on the night but it’s still good money.”

Accelere continues the good record of his dam, Exposay who has now left four decent horses, including the former Hollis & Robertson pacer El Jacko, now a star in Perth.

“He’s won 22 races. She’s also left Pakipaki, who did a good job for us, and VC Manoevure (13 wins).

Emilio Rosati purchased the current two-year-old out of the mare – a filly by Somebeachsomewhere – and it’s in training next door to Hollis and Robertson’s at Lincoln Farms with Ray Green.

The stable couldn’t quite pull off a double with their promising three-year-old maiden, Christianshavtime, who managed only fourth.

They make up two thirds of the current race team, one which has been eroded in recent months by the sales of the likes of Big Mach, Katamach, Destined For Heaven, Three Kisses and The Notorious One.

“We’ve sold six horses this year, which has really depleted our barn.

“So, it’s pretty quiet at the moment but the yearlings are about to come in later this month to get ready for the sales.

“We are preparing 14 this year, which will keep us very busy.”

Elsewhere on the night, John and Josh Dickie, Arna Donnelly and Barry Purdon all recorded training doubles while Inter Dominion prospects, Temporale and Massive Metro, got their preparations back on track with good placings off long marks in the night’s feature trot.