Bendigo Cup won in wire-to-wire fashion

An inspired drive from Nathan Jack paved the way for rejuvenated harness racing pacer Max Delight (Bettor’s Delight) to grab victory in the Garrards Horse & Hound Bendigo Pacing Cup. 

Jack was quick to pull the David Aiken trained Max Delight out from the running line and wrest the lead off Serg Blanco inside the first 600 metres of the race after the $2.70 favorite Beyond Delight elected to go back at the start from its wide front row draw.

Jack dictated the race to suit himself and after throwing a :26.3 last 400 metres at his rivals Max Delight ($5) was able to stave off the challenge from Serg Blanco and hold on by half a neck with Hurricane Harley six metres away third.

The Bendigo track was the scene of Max Delight’s biggest race win in 2021 when he took out the Group 1 Victoria Cup.

Jack admitted he has pre-race thoughts of an early forward move should the opportunity present itself.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in him lately and I had that in the back of my mind because there didn’t seem to be a death seat horse, so there wasn’t going to be any pressure whether we were going to be outside them or find the front,” Jack said.

“That was only Plan B but you go into these races open minded,” he said.

Max Delight has now completed a hat trick of wins at his 100th, 101st and 102 starts and Jack acknowledged the efforts of Aiken.

“All credit has to go to David (Aiken) it was a master stroke to take him to Wagga and got full of confidence and ever since then he’s been a different horse, it shows what a great trainer he is and the longevity he gets out of them,” he said.

Aiken, too, paid tribute to Jack who has now won four of his six drives on Max Delight.

“What a great drive by Nathan and the horse was super, it’s been a great night,” Aiken said.

“We never lost faith in the horse, the sectionals said he was going okay and the turning point was when we took him to Wagga, and he had a confidence boost there.

That was the first night that Nathan drove him, and they’ve just clicked,” he said.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink