Outstanding trotting mare Queen Elida is poised to add another Group 1 feature to her burgeoning CV in tonight’s $75,000 Aldebaran Park Maori Mile at Bendigo.

The winner of six Group 1s, Queen Elida has drawn to find the lead from barrier four over the 1609 metres sprint journey and, mid race pressure pending, could better her own career best Victorian mile rate of 1:54.4 set in last year’s Bill Collins Sprint.

Trainer Brent Lilley, who won last year’s race with Aldebaran Zeus, was happy when the marbles fell his way at the barrier draw.

“That’s a perfect draw for (driver) Chris (Alford) to press forward and be handy on settling,” Lilley said.

Queen Elida is resuming on home soil after finishing third behind champion trotter Just Believe in the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final at Albion Park three weeks ago.

Lilley is pleased with the way the six-year-old came through an arduous ID23 campaign.

“The humidity knocked her around a bit at the start of the series as she had never experienced anything like it before, but she handled it better as the series progressed,” he said.

“In the final she had to come three wide approaching the last turn, which is tough at Albion Park because those on the pegs seem to gain a couple of lengths on straightening. I thought her last 100 metres was as good as anything else in the race.”

Lilley said Queen Elida had enjoyed a seamless lead up to the Maori Mile.

“We were lucky that she flew to and back from Brisbane and she was back in her own box five hours after leaving to come home,” he said.

“We have kept her up to the mark and she has appreciated the cooler weather back home - she is ready to rumble.”

TUNE IN at BENDIGO on Saturday 

First Race: 5.52pm Last Race: 10.43pm
Racecaller: Lachie McIntosh with TrotsVision's Ryan Phelan, Bronte Nieuwenburg and Kirsten Graham.
TrotsVision: WATCH LIVE
SEN Track: LISTEN LIVE 
RSN 927: LISTEN LIVE

Winner of the Week

CHEROKEE, by American Ideal out of Little Red Cloud, winner of the Garrars Horse & Hound Young Guns Series race at Melton on December 31.
 Breed your next winner with Woodlands Stud, supporter of Trots Centre
...

...

The good oil from the Vic trials circuit

Bendigo, R3 N4, Yahoo
At Bendigo on December 12, YAHOO, who hasn’t raced since being unplaced at Swan Hill in August, couldn’t have been more impressive in his victory over KEAYANG YUKON. He pushed forward to find the lead and extended beautifully in the run to the finish to score by a large margin. REPORT
Bendigo, R8 N7, Jilliby Widow
At Terang on December 5, JILLIBY WILLOW fired to the front shortly after the start and set up a moderate tempo early but sizzled home in a last half of 55.6 seconds. He appears to have come back from a break better than ever. REPORT