STAWELL trainer Ray Harvey and his tough-as-nails trotter The Penny Drops continued their Cinderella story by claiming a third-straight country cup victory at Maryborough on Sunday. The home-bred five-year-old gelding backed up from his victories in the Group 3 Kilmore and Swan Hill cups with a fighting win in the $25,000 Group 3 Maryborough Trotters Cup. Despite finding himself under pressure on the home turn, The Penny Drops ($3.20 favourite) - driven by Grant Campbell - showed plenty of resilience in the straight to overhaul the pacemaker Robbie Royale (Chris Alford) and claim victory by a neck, with the Chris Svanosio-trained and driven Brandlo Prince sticking on well for third. Fourth in the race was Just Believe, less than a metre ahead of Beau Garcon for the trainer-driver combination of Kate Hargreaves and Shannon O'Sullivan. The top four placegetters in the race all started the race off 10m. The Penny Drops' win extended an astonishing run of success during 2021 for hobby trainer Harvey with the son of Danny Bouchea and Chilly Pepperell, a mare whose race career consisted of a solitary start as a two-year-old in 2007 for an eighth at Maryborough. The trotter has won six races this season, five of them cups. His haul includes two across the border, the Gawler Trotters Cup in March and the Group 2 South Australian Trotters Cup in April. Bred, owned and trained by Harvey, a full-time truck driver, who has just two horses in his care, The Penny Drops is continuing to reward his perseverance and thoroughness. Like everyone involved in harness racing, Campbell - who first partnered the horse five starts ago and has been in the cart for all three recent cup wins - can only marvel at the trainer and his horse's ever-developing story. "The horse .... there's nothing glamorous about him at all to look at on paper before he races, but Ray's just taken his time with him," a delighted Campbell said post-race. "He's always been a big, gangly lad, and as I said to Ray before the race, when you look at him now you can excuse him for all the little idiosyncrasies he's had during his career. "He still showed them (on Sunday), he hung in quite bad around the home turn, but he was under quite a bit of pressure. "But the fact Ray has taken his time with him .... the horse is now fully developed and he is just a magnificent stayer. He just loves the trips." Campbell and The Penny Drops were made to fight every inch of the way by Alford and Robbie Royale, who for the second time in three starts, had to settle for second behind Harvey's horse by another small margin. "It was interesting when I got up beside Chris with two laps to go, he said 'let's do battle again mate'," Campbell said. "Obviously Chris, he probably learned a little bit from Kilmore, where I was the first one to make a move into the back straight and put him under pressure. "He beat me to the punch (on Sunday) and got running before I could do that. "To be honest, at the 400m I thought he's pulled off the winning move and he's got us under too much pressure. "One thing this horse has done, every time I've driven him and probably every time someone else has driven him, is he doesn't get slower. What he's doing at the top of the straight he'll be doing at the end of the straight. "Unfortunately for Robbie Royale he was out of tickets 50m from the line and my bloke just kept plugging and that's what sort of stands him in good stead in these races when they are good staying tests." Campbell said all credit for the horse's brilliant form went to his trainer. "He's absolutely doing it all himself. Ray mapped out a program for this horse, this preparation and it was all centered around these long distance country cups," he said. "I'll differ from Ray slightly, I think his peak was Swan Hill - Kilmore really topped him off and Swan Hill he was just awesome. "He wasn't as good (at Maryborough) as Swan Hill, but maybe Robbie Royale might have been slightly higher than opposition than we beat at Swan Hill." Alford, who claimed the Group 3 pacers cup on Willie Go West, could not speak highly enough of Robbie Royale's effort in finishing second. "He sort of shook off him (The Penny Drops), but he just out-toughed him," he said. "He might just need a set of pull-downs or something on him, he just sort of seemed to switch off when he got right away from it." Robbie Royale has now been placed in four of the five country cups he has contested in 2021. The Penny Drops improved his career record to 14 wins, eight seconds and six thirds from 50 starts for prize money of $144,865. Earnings from his last three wins stand at $39,900. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
