Living the dream after Group 2 Cranbourne Cup success

It may not be the biggest harness race in the Australian racing calendar but winning the Group 2 $75,000 Cranbourne Cup meant everything for young driver James Herbertson.

The 21-year-old won the feature on Saturday night with the Joe Pace-trained Supreme Dominator, causing an upset when beating the likes of Amazing Dream and race favourite Copy That who finished last.

“Watching Gav (Gavin Lang) and Chris (Chris Alford) battle it out every year growing up, I’ve always wanted to win a country cup as opposed to some of the other big races,” Herbertson said.

“I’m living my dream at the moment . . . to be doing this at 21 is great.”

Herbertson is the second top driver in Victoria this season behind Chris Alford.

His 190 winners this season have contributed to 589 career wins since he began driving in the 2015/16 season.

Already a Group 1 winner, tonight’s Cranbourne Cup is the biggest race Herbertson has won in terms of stakes.

Starting from barrier one in the time-honoured feature, Herbertson sat Supreme Dominator behind the leader Amazing Dream.

New Zealand Cup winner Copy That was driven to find the lead by reinsman Chris Svanosio, however, was parked outside the leader as the quarters were rolled through in 30.4, 32.5, 28.4 and 27.7 seconds.

In the home straight, Supreme Dominator moved up outside Amazing Dream to beat the mare by a head at starting odds of $12.

The mile rate for the 2555m event was rounded up to 1:57.8. Watch the replay below:

Supreme Dominator, a gelded son of Bettors Delight, has now won 13 of his 50 starts.

“He’s a lovely horse and Joe has done a super job with him,” said Herbertson.

“Just six or seven starts track he broke the track record here.

“I couldn’t be more happy with him and I’m just happy to be here and this was always going to be a good test for him.”

The Group 3 Cranbourne Trotters Cup was also run tonight with victory going to Havehorsewilltravel (Angus Hall) while race favourite Majestic Man finished fourth.

By Amanda Rando for Harnesslink