Victorian owner Jean Feiss could be excused for not being able to wait to get her glamour boy Self Assured back to Australia to show him off.
But, after winning a second $400,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Cup with the wonderful little pacer at Alexandra Park on Friday night, she says taking him back to Australia really doesn’t worry her.
“I will leave all that up to Mark,” says Feiss without a hint of parochialism. “I think he loves racing in New Zealand and I actually think it suits him better.
“So I won’t be suggesting he comes to the Inter Dom even though it is in my home state, and I will leave decisions about races like the Miracle Mile to Mark. If he wants to bring him to Australia then great. If he doesn’t, I am happy coming over here to see him race.”
That raises the very real prospect of Self Assured having a crack at a second open class pacing Triple Crown, something that didn’t really exist until the birth of The Race this season.
Self Assured, of course, won that $900,000 slot race to add it to the Auckland Cup he won in 2019 and the New Zealand Cup of 2020, so he has one very discombobulated Triple Crown to his name and has now started working on his second.
Those who took the short odds about him on Friday had few reasons to worry as he stepped well from the 3200m, worked to the lead after a lap and then trailed South Coast Arden when he was launched a lap from home.
There was a slight wobble at the top of the straight but he soon raced clear for Natalie Rasmussen, having her first drive on the star, beating stablemate Spankem with Kango a booming late third in a career highlight for trainer Arna Donnelly.
One of the runs of the race came from Bettor Twist, who settled last after an early gallop but ran on strongly for sixth in her last race, clocking exactly 4:00 flat for the 3200m.
It was Self Assured’s 26th career win from 43 starts and with his 16 placings he has only finished out of the money once when he galloped away from a stand.
With nearly $1.8 million in stakes he is entering rarified air among our best pacers with the promise of so much more to come.
Bolt For Brilliance gave Tony Herlihy the confidence this week to try and beat Sundees Son at his own game.
So that is exactly what the champion trainer-driver did in the $250,000 Reharvest Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park on Friday night.
Herlihy worked his stable star to the front early in Alexandra Park’s greatest trotting race and never relented, even when hot favourite and two-time Rowe Cup winner Sundees Son moved up to sit parked at the mile.
Herlihy kept the hammer down and outstayed the favourite, who simply couldn’t win sitting parked at the 4:1.2 clip for the 3200m and faded late to third.
It was the first time Bolt For Brilliance has been able to beat his arch rival over a major staying trip and maybe, just maybe, signalled a closing of the gap between our best trotter and not just Bolt For Brilliance but Muscle Mountain.
It gives us all the mouth-watering prospect of more great clashes between the trio next season but even the hope they will head to Australia for the Inter Dominion and Great Southern Star.
While Bolt For Brilliance was a dominant second favourite few expected him to beat Sundees Son but Herlihy was less surprised by the huge win.
“He worked great this week and looked really good too,” says NZ's winningest ever driver.
“We all know what a great horse Sundees Son is but the way Bolt worked this week gave me the confidence to drive him like that.
“He felt super out there so I was happy to keep him running and he really deserved that.”
Herlihy is also the former trainer and his wife Suzanne is still a part-owner of runner-up Temporale, giving them a very rare and unusual quinella five years after Temporale won the Rowe as a four-year-old.
Sundees Son was obviously in trouble at the 400m but was brave in third, fighting hard even when he had hit the wall.
“No excuses,” said driver John Dunn.
“Our little fella was really brave but Bolt went great and we were beaten by a better horse on the night.
“It has been a long campaign and these top trotters have put on some amazing races.”
Team Dunn got the better of Herlihy in the first trotting Group 1 two races earlier though when Highgrove led throughout for John to beat Herlihy’s gutsy little filly Double Delight.
The big fella made up for his early gallop in the Sires’ Stakes Championship last Friday by trotting squarely early whereas last week’s winner Masterly and his stablemate El Conqueror both galloped.
Once in front Highgrove freewheeled in magnificent style and was eight lengths clear down the back before Double Delight chased him hard but the winner was too good in a new national record for a three-year-old over 2700m mobile.
“He was great tonight and felt exactly how he should have,” says Dunn.
The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.