Anakie trainer Jeff Britton will be chasing his second Group 1 Fanta Bale Super Stayers (725m) title following True Detective’s brilliant front-running heat win at The Meadows tonight. Britton saluted with Star Recall in 2016.
As his racing moniker suggests, True Detective keeps ‘nailing’ his adversaries – and big reputations at that!
This time it was Sandown 715-metre track record holder Here’s Tears ($1.90F) – a younger brother of five-time G1 winner Tornado Tears – who was gallant but had every opportunity.
True Detective ($2.80) once again defied all attempts to run him down, eventually scoring by one and a quarter lengths over Here’s Tears in 42.11sec.
It was his 18th win from 30 starts – a winning strike rate of 60 per cent.
He’s also won six times in seven starts from Box 1. And wouldn’t you know it – he’s drawn the ‘red’ alley again for next week’s rich final.
It’s also a fallacy that True Detective is simply a top class middle-distance performer, which probably emanated from his victory in last year’s G1 Hume Cup (600m) at The Meadows.
True Detective has shown he’s a legitimate stayer, recently winning the G2 Summer Distance Plate (720m) at Wentworth Park in Sydney and the Group Listed Gold Cup (710m) at Albion Park in Brisbane.
He also won last year’s Group Listed Sky Racing Stayers (715m) at Sandown on Melbourne Cup night.
And only last week, he finished fourth to NSW star Just Terms in the invitational G1 Zoom Top (725m) at The Meadows.
Speaking of Just Terms, she was a good thing beaten in her Super Stayers heat.
Prepared for her Australian Cup Carnival campaign by Rowsley trainer Anthony Azzopardi, Just Terms ($1.80F) got into more trouble than the early explorers before flashing home for second, beaten just under one and a half lengths, to Red Rochelle ($15.80) in 42.75sec.
Trained at Avalon by Jessica Sharp, Red Rochelle caused a boilover notching her seventh win from 50 starts.
Her only previous taste at ‘black type’ level was last year’s G3 Top Cat Video (725m) at The Meadows where she finished seventh to She Will Bloom.
Meanwhile, the Andrea Dailly-trained Rockstar Beav ($6.00) also snared a heat, defeating Rajasthan ($2.40F) by just over one length in 42.47sec.
A winner of 14 races from 60 starts, Rockstar Beav made it four wins in succession. He was a finalist in last year’s G1 Sale Cup.
