James Herbertson was in the spotlight at Melton on Saturday night, driving a winning treble across the early part of the card.
The 25-year-old dominated proceedings, claiming three of the first five races aboard the veteran trotter Nephew Of Sonoko and the Jess Tubbs-trained duo Hes From Heaven and Dichotomy.
Dichotomy ($2.70 fav) completed a hat trick of wins at headquarters when she outstayed Meadow Valley Star after sitting outside that horse for the last lap of the race.
It was an emotional Herbertson who returned to scale on the daughter of Aldebaran Eagle.
“You’ve just got to take your hat off to Jess, I think Greg (Sugars) would be bloody proud of her to come here tonight and have two runners for two winners, she’s doing such a great job and I’m proud of her too,” Herbertson said.
“She is surrounded by some great people and this is her horse and she does all the work with her and I’m very happy for her,” he said.
Later in the program, race caller Dan Mielicki showed well-founded faith in the fighting capabilities of the Andy Gath-trained Imperial Command in the Haras Des Trotteurs Trot.
Sent out a well-supported $2.15 favorite, Imperial Command led but was subsequently headed by Six Nations on the home turn. However, Mielicki declared, “Imperial Command is tough though and he fights back on the inside.”
The former New Zealand four-year-old vindicated Mielicki’s belief by responding over the concluding stages to kick back and score by a head from Six Nations in a mile rate of 1:58.4.
The winner, who is raced by Mielicki along with several prominent media identities, gave Gath cause for concern in the latter stages of the race.
“There is a bit of pressure on training for this group of owners and it didn’t look all that good on the turn but he does try and fought back to win well in the end,” Gath said after the race.
