By Adam Hamilton
The one-time Inter Dominion pacing favourite didn’t make the final and the long-time trotting favourite is under an injury cloud.
That’s the fallout from a dramatic last round of qualifying heats at Geelong last night.
NZ Cup runner-up Majestic Cruiser didn’t make a pacing final field dominated by female trainers, most notably Emma Stewart.
And superstar Kiwi trotter Bolt For Brilliance pulled-up lame after running second to Just Believe last night.
The uncertainty over Bolt For Brilliance has seen all betting markets on the trotting final suspended.
Stewards announced after his heat run, a post-race veterinary inspection had found Bolt For Brilliance was lame.
Just Believe completed a clean-sweep of the heats when he led throughout and held-off Bolt For Brilliance, who sat behind him and closed to within a head.
“We’ve had some good draws and everything has gone perfectly. Hopefully our luck with draws continues for the final,” Just Believe’s driver Greg Sugars said.
In the other key heat last night, Mufasa Metro led throughout and just staved-off Queen Elida to win.
“He had a little setback just before the series, but he’s building as it goes on and he’s a hard horse to get past,” Mufasa Metro’s trainer-driver John Justice said.
Queen Elida’s driver Chris Alford certainly wasn’t disappointed.
“The leader got an easy lead time and it took me a while to get around the field. She ran her last half in 56sec outside the leader. She can definitely win the final,” he said.
But all attention is focused on how the Bolt For Brilliance story unfolds over the next few days.
In the pacing series, Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin qualified five runners for the final, headed by Honolua Bay, who was the only pacer to win all three heats.
Their other finalists are: Act Now, Mach Dan, Beyond Delight and Narutac Prince.
Stewart and Tonkin won all three pacing heats last night and seven of the nine heats in the series. Their winners last night were Honolua Bay, Act Now and Mach Dan.
Remarkably, 10 of the 12 finalists are trained by females. The others are: Expensive Ego and Spirit Of St Louis (Belinda McCarthy), Better Eclipse (Jess Tubbs), Bundoran (Amanda Turnbull) and Petes Said So (KerryAmn Morris).
The barrier draws are done at 9.30pm NZ time on Monday night.
And the finals are over 2760m at Melton next Saturday night.
