Almost Black's Barnstorming Maitland Medal Win

GETTING on in years, Almost Black resembles almost white, but age hasn't diminished the son of Oaks Road's zest for racing, the 4 ½ year old galloper claiming his 35th race victory at Maitland last Thursday afternoon in the Ladbrokes Monthly Medal Final (400m).

Owned by Jed Martin and trained at Lidsdale by John Chapman, Almost Black has been a model of consistency throughout his 98 start career, netting 35 wins and 32 placings, his prizemoney earnings soaring to $63,592 with last Thursday's $2,500 winner's purse, where he defeated his masters-grade counterparts in a smart 22.63.

"He's the first dog I owned, he's been a special dog for us," declared his proud owner Jed Martin earlier this week.

"He was 3 ½ months when I got him for $2,000 as a pup – I saw the litter on the internet and asked John (Chapman) if he'd come and have a look at them with me as he'd loaned the dam Sky Twinkle to Mitchell Pryce who bred the litter. John's had him right the way through; he's reared him, did all his pre-training and has placed him really well right the way through.

He struggles to run out a really strong 520m so the masters events have been ideal for him."

Debuting at Richmond way back in October 2015, Almost Black (Oaks Road x Sky Twinkle) has gone on to forge an outstanding career for connections, the $2,000 purchase set for his 100th career start at Bulli this Saturday night, after going around for the 99th time at Richmond yesterday (Wednesday), and given his outstanding form, there's no end in sight for the veteran galloper.

"John keeps saying he'll tell us when he's had enough and there's no sight of that at the moment with the way he's racing," added Martin.

"He's been very good to me, my car recently broke down so his prizemoney from winning last week came through at a very handy time, he's done that for me a few times now actually!"