Flying Frank is heaven-sent

SOME athletes live for the big stage, the moment in a game that can define a season.

Come on Frank

SOME athletes live for the big stage, the moment in a game that can define a season.

South Australian pacer Come On Frank is proving beyond doubt he possesses precisely those attributes.

And he further underlined his ability to lift when it counts with an emphatic $100,000 Group 1 Vicbred win at Melton in Melbourne last weekend.

Frank, as he's affectionately known, did as only Frank knows, upstaging some big-name Victorian rivals on harness racing's centre stage in Melbourne.

Proving he can burn at both ends, Come On Frank utilised a perfect barrier and drive to outsprint his rival to claim an emphatic victory.

"That's the fastest he's ever come out of the gate," trainer-driver Darren Billinger said, adding he knew the horse was travelling like a winner a long way from home.

"I kept saying to myself around the bend, `don't hit a wheel, Darren, don't hit a peg, don't pull the rein too hard'. I knew the horse was the winner."

The Come On Frank story has captured the imagination of racing fans throughout Australia - and the world largely - due to his social network status.

"For a little horse from Adelaide he has touched a lot of people," Billinger added.

Rewind less than 12 months and the Billinger family faced the moment no parent or sibling should ever have to encounter when Darren and wife Julie's eldest daughter Kelly was killed in a motor vehicle accident.

It's widely acknowledged Come On Frank was an equine shining light and point of focus through the family's darkest days.

He was the lone horse with which Kelly had an affinity.

A slow-maturing two-year-old and family favourite, Come On Frank was showing promise on the eve of the Southern Cross Series - but what unfolded at Globe Derby last winter was scripted from above.

The pacer overcame a horror barrier to win the $50,000 feature and left everyone on track fighting back tears after one of the most emotional wins in memory.

"Since he was a foal we used to dream of him winning the Southern Cross, so to win that race three months to the day that Kelly died was the most emotional night of my life - it was all for her," Billinger said.

Come On Frank did it again on SA harness racing's biggest night - stepping up against seasoned open-class performers for a dominating win in the Dudley Justice Plate on SA Cup night in January.

The plan to sit behind and let his rivals work was thrown out window en route to Globe Derby and Come On Frank roared around the field early, racing in the breeze before scoring a huge win in front of his legion of staunch supporters.

He added the Mount Gambier Pacing Cup from a 20m handicap to his impressive resume in late January before he claimed the biggest win of his progressive career last weekend.

Come On Frank's win against the big boys has left a dilemma for his Globe Derby trainer.

With his local racing options limited, Billinger will now assess whether or not another Melbourne trip is in order for Saturday week's Victorian Four- and Five-Year-Old Championship. He also could chase the lucrative money on offer in Sydney.

His biggest dilemma was that Come On Frank isn't racing this weekend.

"He's come through the trip away really well and he worked the house down this week," Billinger said.

"I was a little annoyed he wasn't running again. He's still a very immature horse but we're going to have to travel with him. It's now a case of `have horse, will travel'."