Australian trots two biggest camps used Night 2 of the SENTrack Inter Dominion Pacing Championship to send bold messages about their Group 1 intent.

Emma Stewart’s stable flew the flag for the Vics, with Mach Dan and Honolua Bay bookending the night’s pacing heats with victories and stablemate Act Now outstanding in running third.

However, Belinda McCarthy’s New South Wales’ stable will also depart Shepparton rapt with their ID22 hand after Spirit Of St Louis was outstanding in winning and securing crucial points, while Expensive Ego was stoic in running second.

For all runners there’s still work to be done with crucial points on the line in Geelong’s last heats on Saturday night, but some will already be daring to dream of the December 10 finals at Tabcorp Park Melton.

Chief among those may be David Moran, driver of Honolua Bay, who’s the series only undefeated horse after scoring in a challenging run tonight over the sprint distance.

The Stewart runner was forced to sit three-wide for much of the last lap after Greg Sugars (Better Eclipse) refused to yield the breeze and Amanda Turnbull held the lead with Bundoran.

The trio hit the final turn locked together but it was Honolua Bay who was best in the run to the line despite covering the greatest ground.

“It was a poor drive to say the least, but they backed off so much and so quick (in the second quarter) and I thought being the second heat Greg (Sugars) wouldn’t want a hard run,” Moran said of his failed bid to find the chair. “(I) took the risk (to move to the breeze), it didn’t pay off but he was good enough to get the job done.

“He was absolutely bolting around the last turn … and is starting to really toughen up to that grade.”

With 32 points in the bank Honolua Bay is all but assured a finals’ place.

Bundoran ran on well to finish just a head behind, having sustained the 27.5-second first quarter to lead and still been prominent in the 55.3-second last half to finish second. That secured 13 series points, boosting Bundoran to ninth overall in the standings.

Max Delight (13 series points) ran well via the pegs into third but the 2021 Victoria Cup champ will need another big haul on the final night to advance after a modest first heat, while Night 1 winner Better Eclipse finished fourth tonight and is well placed in fifth overall.

Mach Dan and Act Now are also sitting pretty for Stewart after finishing first and third respectively in the night’s opening heat, which has them level on 27 points – second overall – heading to Geelong.

That was after Mark Pitt (Mach Dan) unsuccessfully challenged I Cast No Shadow for the lead before having to relent and wait as Expensive Ego loomed to the breeze and maintained the frenetic pace.

There they remained until entering the final turn when Mach Dan stepped out to challenge the leaders and showed he could burn at both ends, clawing past Expensive Ego to score by a half-neck.

“He was super sharp,” Pitt said after Mach Dan won in a 1:51.9 mile rate, more than half a second off the previous track record for the sprint trip.

“Plan A (to lead) didn’t work out but plan B was to be one-one behind Expensive Ego and that was how it worked out. (Mach Dan's) a casual customer and I had to wake him up a bit, but once he came off Expensive Ego’s wheel he really knuckled down.”

Though beaten into second, as he also was on Night 1 at Bendigo, Expensive Ego was again huge in defeat for reinsman Luke McCarthy, who remained rapt with how his entrant was building into the series.

“He was awesome again,” McCarthy said. “Stuck wide early and they broke the track record. He was great at Ballarat, even better tonight, so he’s just building through the series. Really happy.”

Expensive Ego sits on 26 points after Night 2, fourth overall and just one point shy of Act Now, who all but sealed his place in the Inter Dominion final with the outstanding third for Stewart and driver Jodi Quinlan.

“I knew it was going to be hard from barrier 11, but they gave me a bit of a hope early when Luke got caught wide and the speed was on a bit,” Quinlan said. “They were smoking down the back and he got home really well.”

As did Spirit Of St Louis in the night's second heat, who was outstanding for reinsman Jack Callaghan and trainer McCarthy, banking 16 crucial points that has taken him out of the series' danger zone.

A bold display was crucial after a difficult Night 1 draw saw him run midfield at Ballarat and, from gate six, Callaghan showed aggression from the outset, attacking to lead amid a 28.7-second first quarter.

It was a comfortable advance for the Shepparton Cup winner, having been the slowest getaway of the night and Callaghan was able to strengthen his grip in a pedestrian second quarter.

That set the scene for a quick last half, particularly with Beyond Delight looming large on his back, and Spirit Of St Louis delivered to win by 1.2 metres, though only after also surviving a Pitt protest after the leader shifted out off the final turn.

“It was a really good performance by him tonight and we still think there’s improvement to come, so really positive,” Callaghan told TrotsVision.

“He was travelling really good and halfway through that (last) bend I whistled him up and he really wanted to take off. (Beyond Delight) got to my wheel and gave me a little scare, but never felt like he was going passed.”

Beyond Delight and Naturac Prince finished second and third for Stewart, giving the stable five runners in qualifying positsions heading to Geelong this Saturday night for the long-distance leg (2570 metres).

As it stands, Honolua Bay, Act Now, Mach Dan, Expensive Ego, Better Eclipse, Narutac Prince, Spirit Of St Louis, Beyond Delight, Bundoran, Zeuss Bromac and Majestic Cruiser are in, with Petes Said So, Torrid Saint and Wolf Stride equal on 16 points for the final qualifying place while a horde of hungry hopefuls are snapping at their heels.

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There's a lot to look forward to and everything to play for. Here are the Night 3 pacing draws: