The TAB Eureka was everything those behind the creation of the race could have hoped for and more. It was as much a celebration of the sport as it was the launch of a new, headline race.
More on the epic night itself soon, but let’s delve into the glorious story of Encipher’s win.
Half the field (five of the 10 runners) were trained in Victoria and, although she was one of them, she really flew the South Australian flag. She was bred and is owned in Kadina, a town of just over 5000 people, by hobbyist Tyson Linke.
And the largely SA-based slot owners of Aaron Bain Racing and Summit Bloodstock specifically chose her to replace Cobber when he was injured to maintain the SA flavour.
She was the lone mare in the race, from a harness racing backwater and upstaged some of the biggest players in the sport to win the world’s richest and first $2.1 million race.
What a training effort from Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin to bring her back from the worst run of her stellar career when she suffered atrial fibrillation and ran eighth at Melton on June 17.
“We’ve always believed she could match it with the boys and were surprised it took so long for someone to pick her up in a slot. We were worried she wouldn’t get a run at all,” Stewart said.
Linke, in tears of joy, added: “I can’t believe this has just happened. I was thrilled just to be part of the race, especially the first Eureka, and we’ve won it. We’ve actually won it.”
Encipher was sublime and deserved the win, but Leap To Fame’s second after doing all the work yet again was outstanding.
After beating off leader and main danger Catch A Wave, Leap To Fame tried to lift again when Encipher came at him, but had to be content with a huge second in a scorching 1:51.8 mile rate for 2400m.
Remember, Rock N Roll Doo only went a 1:51.1 mile (almost 800m shorter) winning the all-aged Len Smith Mile 45 minutes earlier.
And what about the run of Captain Ravishing? The gifted pacer who went into such a gruelling and strong race having not raced for six months.
To run third was remarkable and credit to trainer Ahmed Taiba, who dared to do things his way, battled injury issues behind the scenes and almost pulled it off.
He was such a fascinating narrative for months leading into the race and sport needs a talent like Captain Ravishing back at his top and in the biggest races.
Victoria’s two other big guns, Catch A Wave and The Lost Storm, ran below their best to finish eighth and seventh respectively.
As we know, today’s mega race days are more than just about the racing.
Birds Of Tokyo was an inspired choice as the headline musical act with a crowd-lifting pre-race song and then the concert after the last. The sky drone show was mighty impressive and Ricki-Lee Coulter singing the national anthem added another dash of class and star factor.
On top of the tremendous domestic media support, especially from the likes of Racenet, the Daily Telegraph, the Sydney Morning Herald and Courier Mail, the greatest measure of the TAB Eureka’s cut-through has been the interest from the US.
Sure, they’re all ex-pats from Australia or NZ, but Dexter Dunn, Todd and Andy McCarthy, Shane Tritton, Brett Pelling and Noel Daley all set their alarms to get up and watch the race at 6.45am their time on the US east coast.
“Andy and I only got home from The Meadowlands (race night) about 1am, but he stayed at my place and we set the alarm to get up and watch it at 6.45am our time,” Todd said. “We cheered for Luke. What a mare she must be.”
That interest stirred respected US harness scribe Deb Little to pen a column about the race, speaking at length with Pelling, Daley and Todd McCarthy.
“These people down there are professionals,” Pelling told Little. “They think outside the box. They’re young. They are promoting like you wouldn’t believe.
“You’ll find when you go to the track, I mean, the signage, the sponsorships, the people that they bring on board, the events that they have. Everything they do is unbelievably well done. Highly, highly professional and they reach out and they make themselves part of the community, which is what we don’t do. We just don’t do that.
“I will guarantee you that if people from here, especially The Meadowlands, went Down Under, they would just turn around and say to themselves, ‘What have we been doing? We have this product right here at the centre of the universe and we’ve been wasting it,’ because that’s what they’ll see.
“I mean, this Eureka thing was basically created to stop the world, that’s why they’re doing it. You know, they’re trying to bring attention to the game. That’s what they’re thinking.
“This Eureka thing is good. These guys have done their job by having you looking to have something in print about it. They’ve done their job.”
Yes, they have and Australian harness racing has its race to celebrate again.
Bring on 2024.
Pictures: Club Menangle