By Jason Bonnington
THEY came, the saw, they conquered.
That was the familiar refrain following yet another catastrophic Kiwi assault upon a feature Victorian program at Bray Raceway, Ballarat on Saturday night.
In total – if you include the now Aussie-trained Franco Nelson and Cant Refuse – there were seven NZ invaders on Ballarat Pacing Cup night.
By a tick after 10pm, with two undercard races still to be decided, the raiders had won four races and created some of the more magical harness moments in Australia this season.
It all started with the pin up boy of Australasian three-year-old’s, Lazarus, sitting outside and thoroughly disrespecting his rivals in heat one of the Victoria Derby series.
Thirty minutes later, Monbet, confirmed his billing as the Southern Hemisphere’s most exciting squaregaiter in the first of two Australasian Trotting Championship qualifiers.
Soon after, another talented, if somewhat lower profile trotter named One Over Da Moon claimed the second of those ATC preliminaries.
Then came the piece de resistance as Smolda defied the might of Inter Dominion king, Lennytheshark to steal a classic, spellbinding Ballarat Pacing Cup duel.
Each performance, barring One Over Da Moon’s, was a classic in it’s own right.
A fact fortified by the knowledge that Monbet and Smolda both eviscerated previous Ballarat track benchmarks.
Amazingly, Smolda scratched 1.5secs of Restrepo’s record for the 2710m mobile start and Monbet took 1.9secs of Unico Crown’s 2710m Standing Start standard for trotters.
IT’S official; nimble Newcastle mare, Arms Of An Angel is the Real McCoy.
Prior to Saturday night’s Hondo Grattan Stakes at Menangle – the first of three Chariots of Fire qualifiers – Shane Tritton’s flying mare was already vaunted for her astonishing speed.
Her reputation had been built upon a freakish, flawless start to her Australian career where she’d already won her first five starts and twice breached a 1min51sec mile rate.
Despite her obvious talent however, doubts lingered about whether she was a flat-track-bully dominating inferior rivals or a speed machine capable of feature race success.
Those doubts were dispelled in 1min 50.7sec by a display of gate speed and late speed rarely seen by even the greats, let alone an inexperienced four-year-old mare.
After flying off the arm in a scintillating 25.6-seconds, Lauren Panella pinched a short breather before winding up her final in 55.1.
Amazingly, another mare, Ameretto, finished on well to snare second while former Kiwi campaigner, Kept Under Wraps, dropped out after sitting parked for most of the 1609m trip.
The upset result should ensure that the remaining Chariots’ qualifiers at Menangle this Saturday night and Melton seven days later, host some truly outstanding fields.
IN-form Victorian mentor, Dean Braun, has a big decision to make following Saturday night’s action at Menangle.
If Arms Of An Angel was the big winner from the Hondo Grattan Stakes, then Braun’s potential freak, Cruz Bromac, was the obvious loser.
The good news for Cruz Bromac’s connections, if not the punters who mercilessly backed him into favouritism, is that the gun son of Falcon Seelster was a million miles from poor.
However a tardy start, followed by a few very rough strides when about to launch his assault ultimately conspired to see him finish in fifth.
Otherwise known as no-mans-land from a Chariots Of Fire perspective.
Now Braun has to decide whether he relies on selectors identifying the magnitude of his performance in the Hondo Grattan when selecting their Chariots field.
Or whether he returns home to Victoria for the 4YO Bonanza in his bid to cement a spot in Australasia’s most revered Four Year Old affair.
HARNESS Racing Victoria may have programmed a low-key Country Front card at Melton on Friday night but that didn’t stop it providing one astonishing performance.
On face value, the evening’s eighth event looked a benefit for Franklin Cup champ, Itz Bettor To Win, at his first Australian start.
Despite appearing to lack brilliant gate speed, most believed he’d control a strong but not elite race from the lead or breeze and salute with something in hand.
But the moment on-fire trainer/driver Matty Craven sent stewards a change of tactics notification for his charge, The Culture, you knew the race was on.
Having taken the easy option in transit at his two runs back from a break, Craven declared The Culture would be looking to find and hold the lead despite the stiff opposition.
As it turned out, The Culture did lead, and run, and break the hearts of his opposition with a mile rate just half-a-second outside Smoken Up’s four-year-old track record.
The highlight of the race was The Culture’s blistering 26.7-sec third quarter, which may well be a Melton record itself.
Given the freakish fractions paced throughout, Itz Better To Win did a monstrous job to sit parked and cling on for second while Tee Cee Bee Macray was also pretty good in third.
All three horses are expected to target the newly minted 4YO Bonanza, which has been elevated to a $100,000 Group 1 race and Chariots Of Fire qualifier on February 6.
DESPITE the evolution of countless futurity and sweepstake series for age restricted horses in recent years, the Victoria Derby still retains a prestige and an aura all its own.
So its only fitting that this year’s renewal of the Group 1 classic – its 91st edition – should host a field with runners representing three Australian sates, and of course New Zealand.
Lazarus obviously takes care of the Kiwi element, while the locals have seven hopefuls hailing from the Terang to Shepparton and Long Forest to Shelbourne.
New South Wales get two of their representatives from the ultra-powerful McCarthy stables and one from industry icon Steve Turnbull.
While Western Australia are returning the favour to those who pillaged their recent Inter Dominion carnival with Sprinter taking his place as a Vic Derby heat winner next weekend.
THE Kiwi influence wasn’t only on show at Ballarat Saturday night; it also shone bright at the home of Australian country music, Tamworth, 24 hours earlier on.
There, one-time Breeders Crown placegetter, Cyclone Kate, now trained by John McCarthy, maintained her unbeaten Aussie record winning the Golden Guitar Final.
She had to work for the money but ultimately proved a class above, defeating a handy field which included her 2014 Breeders Crown conqueror, Katy Perry.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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