By Adam Hamilton
THREE things shone through from a hotly-contested $100,000 Group 1 Gold Coast Cup.
Former superstar juvenile Bling It On took the step into the open-class big league, his driver Luke McCarthy remains one of the very best in the business and Philadelphia Man is as good as any pacer racing in this part of the world now.
Let’s start with Bling It On, who improved on two sound runs this campaign to score his first major win as an open-aged horse in last Saturday night’s feature.
“He’s never going to be a Smoken Up, but you give him a good trip and he can be lethal,” part-owner Harvey Kaplan said.
McCarthy added: “Everything told us he’d come back better than ever and it’s great to see him show it in a big race.”
McCarthy certainly did his bit in the sulky, grabbing the prized three-wide trail home on favourite Philadelphia Man from the 1400m.
Bling It On trailed up beautifully, loomed strongly on the final bend and responded when McCarthy said go.
Bling It On scored by two metres over Philadelphia Man, who kept kicking back, with another 1.8m away to third-placed Our Hi Jinx.
They will meet again with most of the rivals who chased them home in next Saturday night’s Group 1 Queensland Championship.
Philadelphia Man will be favourite no matter where he draws after a monstrous run in defeat last Saturday.
His effort to come three-wide without cover in a 1min52.4sec mile rate and keep giving for driver Gavin Lang was enormous.
It gets even bigger when you consider that mile rate took a thumping 1.6sec off the 2138m track record.
The way he’s racing, Philadelphia Man looks as hard to beat as any horse for the Perth Inter Dominion.
Trainer Emma Stewart’s challenge will be keeping him primed through another run in Queensland then a trip back to Victoria and across to WA.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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