By Adam Hamilton
It wasn’t the night the Kiwis hoped for at Menangle.
Better Knuckle Up and We Walk By Faith finished fourth and fifth respectively in the Hondo Grattan Stakes, meaning they will have to back-up next Saturday to try and snare spots in the $200,000 Group 1 Chariots Of Fire field.
They were both sound runs in a race dominated from the front by last year’s TAB Eureka runner-up Bay Of Biscay in a scorching 1min49.8sec mile.
Driver Cam Hart bustled Bay Of Biscay out from gate one to lead easily and then was kept honest in front by a headstrong and heavily-backed The Bigboss.
Hart dashed for home rounding the final bend and opened up a big lead before speedy Emma Stewart-trained stablemate War Dan Buddy emerged from the back and charged home to get within 2.3m.
Former Kiwi and Queensland Derby winner Major Hot, now trained in NSW by Paul Fitzpatrick, sat behind the lead and battled into third spot.
They dashed home in 54.3 and 26.7.
“He really deserved that. It’s a relief as much as exciting after a few luckless runs,” Bay Of Biscay’s part-owner Russell Maisner said.
“We wanted to take luck out of the equations, so it was great to see him begin so well and lead.
“Now we go straight to the Chariots where we’ll be hoping for another good draw.”
Stewart already looks to safely have at least three Chariots runners with Bay Of Biscay and War Dan Buddy joining Miki To Success, who qualified through winning the 4YO Bonanza at Melton on Hunter Cup night.
Earlier in the night, Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan’s Miracle Mile runner-up of last year, Sooner The Bettor, opened his latest Menangle campaign.
But it proved an uncharacteristic flop after sitting one-one and weakening to finish last in a powerhouse free-for-all.
Stewards stood the five-year-old down pending a vet’s certificate.
The free-for-all was won by David Aiken’s remarkable veteran Max Delight, who worked hard to lead and smashed the clock with a 1min48.8sec mile rate.
It took a second off his career best at the age of nine.
Max Delight kept digging in to fend-off a very gallant Captains Knock, who sat outside him for the last half of the race.
The pair further underlined the stunning strength of the Hunter Cup form.
Max Delight ran eighth and Captains Knock sixth and both grabbed the eye from well back behind Swayzee in the February 1 Hunter Cup.
Significantly, Don’t Stop Dreaming split them in seventh spot in the Hunter Cup and he has gone on to run a huge second to Leap To Fame in the Cranbourne Cup and then easily won the Terang Cup.
The quick times at Menangle carried into the mares’ free-for-all where Luke McCarthy’s Eye Keep Smiling stunningly turned the tables on glamour Kiwi-bred mare Aardie’s Express.
Eye Keep Smiling sat parked, poured on the pressure and dashed away to win by 7.9m in a career-best 1min49.4sec mile.
Aardie’s Express settled back and looked a shadow of herself, just labouring into fourth spot, beaten 11.3m.
