With his trademark grit and grind McLovin clawed his way back to the winner’s list to notch a first victory of his campaign and build on a super night for Kate Gath and Andy Gath.

The pair combined for three victories at Tabcorp Park Melton and Kate added a fourth when she kicked off the night with a win for Emma Stewart, claiming the Benstud Standardbreds Youthful Stakes for two-year-old fillies with Beach Music.

But it was McLovin’s first win since August 8 that will have likely brought most delight, with the now 24-time winner leading all the way win to score in the Garrard’s Maori’s Idol Trotters Free For All, despite early pressure from class trotter Tough Monarch.

“You really have to burn (to hold them out). The lead time was 7.1, which is pretty quick for trotters and then a quick first quarter (28.4) with it,” Kate told Trots Vision post-race.

“I was pretty keen to lead because (McLovin's) a really hard horse to get past in front and Tough Monarch would have been really hard to beat if he found the front. It was the winning move tonight.”

In the early fray, leading chance Dance Craze broke stride when she tried to slide onto McLovin’s back only to have the gap closed by Tough Monarch, while up front Kate applied the brakes with a 32.7-second second quarter.

“We were burning, so it was pretty important I got a breather,” she said, though the slow sectional was also in large part to a “brutal” breeze.

“It’s been windy all night, but as we hit the front straight the first time I was like ‘woah’,” she said. “It was almost pushing us backwards.

“In the home straight it was just as bad if not worst – Mickey (McLovin) went from travelling really good to dropping the bit pretty quick. I couldn’t really blame him. It was a slog to the line, because it was just atrocious the winds.”

While that made life tough for McLovin up front, toughing it out plays to his strengths and it also made it difficult for the chasing pack to make ground.

Tough Monarch got within 1.6 metres to finish second, with Magicool hunting via the sprint lane to finish third.

For team Gath, they’ll be pleased McLovin’s been able to transform only his second front line draw this campaign into a first win as they fine tune for the $300,000 February 5 Woodlands Stud Great Southern Star and the many great trotting features that surround it.

Of the stable's other top tier trotters, Kate said Tornado Valley “will probably race early January”, while Majestuoso “pulled up really well, onwards and upwards, he’s a little excitement machine”.

And the stable has a new addition that, like the aforementioned trio, now belongs to owner Norm Jenkin.

Havehorsewilltravel “arrived a couple of weeks ago” and “you’ll see him race shortly”, said Kate.

By Angus Hall, the five-year-old gelding is out of Winfield Invasion, which makes him a half-brother to McLovin.

His 18 starts in New Zealand, all for Brent Mangos, produced four victories, his last at Auckland just one week shy of 12 months ago.

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