06 November 2018 | TERRY NEIL
NOW Eye See and Ominous Warning extended already impressive records with strong wins in last Wednesday’s Star Trek semi-finals and the battle between them in Friday’s $15,000 final at Gold Crown Paceway should be a beauty.
Amanda Turnbull earned Drive of the Night honours from racecaller Craig Easey for her effort in the first semi, keeping open her options with Now Eye See in a spirited early speed battle before a deft piece of driving that saw her obtain a nice trail in the running line.
It could so easily have gone badly wrong for the favourite combination.
They came three-wide around the final turn, and momentarily looked to be struggling, before knuckling down to grab the win from death-seating Life Lavros NZ and the fast-finishing Delilaah NZ. It was a trifecta result for leading sire Bettors Delight.
Less than four metres separated the first six home, with Grosestar, Reverse Psychology and a desperately unlucky Tintin Naturally NZ, a stablemate of the winner, making it through to Friday’s decider.
The daughter of outstanding matron Grace Robinson now boasts seven wins and four places from her 11 career starts. Victory in the final will take her earnings past the $50,000 mark as she gives chase to her six-figure siblings Two Eye See, Oh Eye See, Eye See Diamonds and Hardhitter.
Two races on, in the second semi-final, the P. Trevor-Jones-trained, John O’Shea-driven Ominous Warning lived right up to his name, delivering a resounding “Anything you can do…” message of his own by leading throughout and bolting away over a 55.2s final half of the 1:54.7 trip.
With 10 wins from his last 11 runs, including a Menangle Country Series final just three days earlier, and 16 wins from 27 lifetime runs, he will crack $100,000 in earnings with a win on Friday.
Arcachon held down second after trailing the leader throughout, and it was impossible to miss the run of Schouten Island, which flashed home from a mile back for third, ahead of Afterdinnerspeaker NZ, Tulhurst Cash and Abercrombie Tab.
If there’s to be an upset in the final, it could come courtesy of Schouten Island, which looks to be at the top of his game right now. He’ll be well handled by Amy Rees, who would like nothing more than to get a feature race win at the expense of her boyfriend John O’Shea.
The barrier draw, to be conducted on Tuesday, will have a strong bearing on the market for a final that is sure to attract a very big crowd to Gold Crown Paceway.
Other winners on Wednesday included: Letsgotothehop NZ (Jason Grimson), all the way in C2-C3 grade, continuing the great Bathurst run recently for Camden trainer Tim Butt ; Royal Story (Bernie Hewitt), which produced a barnstorming finish right over the top of her fast-class rivals ; Castalong Shadow (Geoff Simpson), leading throughout in C0-C1 class and getting back to that Gold Crown-winning form from 2017 ; and Bettor Jiggle (Josh / Amanda Turnbull) , kicking off his 3YO season in impressive style with a dominant win in an Evolution Series heat.
Heats of the HRNSW Rewards Series were taken out by parent-child combinations David and Brad Hewitt, with Allstar Sea, and Wendy and Emma Turnbull, with Lucky Nutter. They’ll be the testing material in the $10,000 final this Friday.
And on that generational theme, congratulations to trainer Ashlee Grives, and husband Ryan, on the birth of their first child late last month.
All of seven days old, baby Dulcie was completely unruffled by her first visit to the races last week, to cheer on mum’s runners, including Life Lavros, runner-up in one of those semi-finals.
She’s sure to back up again this week, and if things pan out just a touch better, she’ll play her own starring role in a Star Trek.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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