Better Eclipse goes one better

Talented harness racing pacer Better Eclipse (Betterthancheddar) made amends for his second placing last year when he took out the Group 3 4YO & 5YO Championship at Melton.

The Jess Tubbs trained five-year-old started the ‘outsider’ at $8 in the small but select field of rising stars due to his wide front row draw however the race didn’t pan out as expected with the five horses racing in Indian File.

Greg Sugars managed to slot Better Eclipse three back along the pegs before pulling out to join the leader Beyond Delight with 800 metres to travel.

In a frantic dash home Better Eclipse forged to the front half way down the home straight defeating Beyond Delight by a metre reeling off a 54.2 last 400 metres

TOTAL ECLIPSE! 🌒
Greg Sugars takes home the Cogs Services 4Yo & 5Yo Championship with the Jess Tubbs trained Better Eclipse. pic.twitter.com/ah0rJgXeYm

— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) November 4, 2023

Sugars said the early race tactics worked out perfectly for one of the state’s best sit sprinters.

“I was pretty lucky early, I got straight in behind them as nobody wanted to sit up outside the leader and they got in behind me so a bad barrier draw turned out to be pretty good in the end,” Sugars said.

“I was only outside the leader for the last half and the sectionals weren’t that strong so it really played into our hands,” he said.

Sugars said the son of Betterthancheddar responded when asked for an extra effort inside the final 400 metres.

“He was pretty electric, I was just waiting as the leader had too good a run and he looked to have a kick left at the 400 and I thought I was going to run second, but when I asked him for an effort just before straightening he just went into another gear,” he said.

Sugars was pleased his stable star bounced back from his previous unplaced effort in the Victoria Cup

“He’s a very talented horse but at this level there’s not much between them as we saw in the Victoria Cup where he got beaten nine metres, and while it looked ordinary on face value it wasn’t hugely below par,” he said.

“We were confident that if we did a bit of fine tuning we would get him back to his best.”

For complete race results, click here.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink