Act Now acts up to win Inter Dominion heat

Before his Inter Dominion heat at Ballarat tonight (Nov. 26) harness racing reinswoman Jodi Quinlan knew her drive Act Now (Somebeachsomewhere) was ready to race.

“He has the devil in him tonight, he tried to kick me out for a lap in the warm up,” Quinlan grinned pre-race.

Fortunately for connections, Act Now’s antics paid off and the four-year-old was triumphant in the first qualifier of the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship.

Showing some early speed from barrier seven, Act Now worked forward before eventually landing the one-one.

The race favourite Mach Dan led and Quinlan waited until the home turn angle Act Now into the clear where he overcame a final quarter of 28.1 seconds.

The mile rate for the 2200m test was 1:54.1 and Quinlan was still beaming after winning the previous event, the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship heat with Ofortuna.

“This couldn’t be much better than winning the final,” said Quinlan.

ACT NOW REPLAY

Act Now is trained by Emma Stewart who made it a race-to-race double winning the second pacing Inter Dominion qualifier with Honolua Bay (Somebeachsomewhere).

Driven by David Moran, Honolua Bay was back in the pack early after starting off the second row.

With Sydney pacer Zeuss Bromac setting a slow tempo in front, Moran elected to make a move with Honolua Bay and post him outside the leader.

The first two quarters were 32.2 and 30.8 seconds and the tempo quickened with the final two splits 28.9 and 26.3.

Honolua Bay won by a neck over Zeuss Bromac with Majestic Cruiser in third in a mile rate of 1:57.1.

“He’s never really been a horse to tough it out too much but he was really good tonight,” said Moran.

“He picked up really quick and levelled up and he is not a horse to put them away but thankfully he staved them off.”

HONOLUA BAY REPLAY

While Somebeachsomewhere sired the first two pacing heat winners, it was Betterthancheddar gelding Better Eclipse that won the third heat on the night.

Starting from barrier one, Better Eclipse was crossed early but eventually came away from the pegs to find the lead and control the tempo.

With the first half clocked in 61.3 seconds, Better Eclipse stepped up a notch in the concluding stages rolling out the final two quarters in 28.3 and 27.1 seconds.

The four-year-old held out the fast-finishing Narutac Prince by more than a metre in a rate of 1:56.7 giving trainer Jess Tubbs and driver Greg Sugars their second Inter Dominion heat win of the night having won a trotting heat earlier with Just Believe.

“He’s pretty full of himself at the moment which is a great sign at the start of a long week,” said Sugars of Better Eclipse.

“He’s a lovely horse with the all round package.

“He’s still relatively young in terms of race starts go compared to his rivals in this series.”

BETTER ECLIPSE REPLAY

For complete race results, click here.

by Amanda Rando, for Harnesslink