There has never been dominance quite like this.
A decade-long rampage through the rich Vicbred series is poised to continue for the powerhouse Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable on Saturday night.
As much as Chris Waller dominates Sydney racing, it’s not a patch on how Stewart and Tonkin continue to “own” the Vicbred series.
Greats like Bob and Vin Knight, Jayne Davies and Noel Alexander, Grant and Trista Dixon have all had their chapters of dominance in harness racing, but this is next level.
Over the past decade, there have been a total of 40 Vicbred finals run for two and three-year-old pacers – Stewart and Tonkin have won 25 of them.
Their most amazing strike rates have been with fillies, having won eight of the past 10 finals for two and three-year-olds of that sex.
Although their numbers weren’t as intimidating this year, the results have been.
They qualified 14 pacers through the Vicbred heats for two and three-year-old pacers and 12 of them took the next step through the semi-finals into Saturday night’s Group 1 deciders.
They didn’t just qualify, either. Of the 12 who made it through, Stewart and Tonkin had four winners, three seconds and three thirds.
On trend, the fillies stole the show.
The way Kahula and Bettor Beach won their semis, they are clear top picks to win the two and three-year-old fillies’ finals respectively.
While the pint-sized Kahula is the stable’s lone runner in the two-year-old final, she just looks a league above her rivals.
Three starts back she almost beat the boys in Australia’s richest juvenile race, the $500,000 Group 1 Protostar at Albion Park.
Bettor Beach, who strangely didn’t fire in Brisbane, has returned with two arrogant wins and has stable support in the final from Pre Eminant and My Bettor Half, who chased her home in the semi.
Stewart and Tonkin’s strongest representation comes in the three-year-old colts and geldings division, which is traditionally the strongest and has proven hardest for them to win with four victories in the past decade.
They qualified five of the six runners they had in the semis with not much between the performances of Most Exciting, Enjoy Life and even Cardigan Dan from back in the field.
The most remarkable win of the night came from Cardigan Sniper in his clash for two-year-old colts and geldings when he lifted to score after stablemate Some High looked to have him beaten halfway down the straight.
They beat the rest by 25 metres, so it will be a shock if one of them doesn’t win the final.
