Four-year-olds power through to Vicbred Finals

Maajida’s tilt at the Vicbred Super Series triple crown remains on track after she powered through Wednesday night’s semi-final at Melton.

The daughter of Somebeachsomewhere brought up a staggering sixth success on the Melton card for trainer Emma Stewart when she pinged away from the mobile and led all the way to score in a mile rate of 1:55.8min.

She beat Common Courtesy (Wayne Ronan/Connor Ronan) and Belladonna Girl (Greg Norman/Kerryn Manning) by 3.5m and 10.1m respectively.

“She’s usually a relatively relaxed sort of horse, but with the minor gear change of a little set of blinkers on tonight, she was very, very sharp indeed,” driver Greg Sugars said.

“Great to see her back at her best.”

Maajida is already a VSS Group 1 winner at two and three and will chase success for a third successive season on New Year’s Eve.

However, she will face stiff opposition from Spellbound after Nathan Purdon’s mare won the other semi-final on Wednesday night.

With Stuart McDonald at the controls, the daughter of Art Major led easily from the inside barrier and rated 1:59.5min in her all-the-way triumph.

Jilliby Zagami (Paddy Lee/Glen Craven) sat parked and boxed on well for second, while Heavenly Charm (Anthony O’Connor) placed third at big odds.

Maajida has drawn the inside of the back row for the December 31 showdown, while Spellbound has come up with the outside of the front line.

Top reinsman Greg Sugars could barely have been more complimentary of New South Wales raider Jay Ok after his enormous four-year-old entires and geldings’ semi-final performance.

The Paul Fitzpatrick-trained son of A Rocknroll Dance was wide and off the track from his barrier seven draw for much of the first lap and then sat parked to Jilliby Sylvester (Margaret Lee/Glen Craven) at the bell.

And despite the tough run, Sugars barely had to get busy with the reins as the horse outgunned his main rival to win by close to 2m.

Adding to the enormity of the effort was the fact the field zipped home in a 26.6sec last quarter to clock a mile rate of 1:55.5min for the middle-distance trip.

“He is a proper horse,” Sugars said post-race.

“I made that comment to Glen Craven as we pulled up. I looked across and they were pretty much the first words out of my mouth: ‘this is a serious horse’.

“I’m very excited to be behind him.”

Jay Ok has drawn barrier 12 for the Group 1 final on New Year’s Eve, while fellow semi-final winner Honolua Bay has come up with gate five.

David Moran was at the controls for Honolua Bay’s dominant 5.9m triumph, which was his fourth-straight victory since joining Emma Stewart’s barn.

The Somebeachsomewhere gelding took a while to work to the front, but eventually did so and then rattled home in 26.4sec for a mile rate of 1:57.2min.

Honolua Bay found the lead and held off Jay Ok by 2.9m when the two clashed in the VSS heats at Ballarat on December 16 and next week’s rematch is poised to be a cracker.

Click here for all results and replays from Melton on Wednesday night.

By Tim O’Connor for HRV