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Just Believe’s (Orlando Vici) outstanding Aurora Australis series was capped in fittingly winning style, gifting harness racing reinsman Bailey McDonough a maiden Group 1 and his big band of connections another mighty thrill.
The Larajay Farms gelding produced a seventh win in his last nine starts in capturing the TAB Australian Trotting Grand Prix, a $100,000 Group 1 triumph for trainer Jess Tubbs that added to his E B Cochran and Great Southern Star successes and made him a runaway winner of the rich Victorian series.
“He’s absolutely thriving off the work and what he does at home and it obviously shows on the race track,” McDonough said.
Just Believe was in command throughout the 2240-metre affair, despite Majestic Man pressing throughout a brisk 43.7-second lead time and with major danger Im Ready Jet lying in wait on his back.
While the Kiwi tired the latter was ever present, with Nathan Jack setting Im Ready Jet free off the final turn to challenge Just Believe in the run to the line.
The leader showed his customary fight to hold off the challenge and win by two metres, an important margin given Just Believe appeared to drift into his rival’s path in the run to the line that likely contributed to Im Ready Jet racing roughly late.
“He was on one rein quite bad,” McDonough said. “He does tend to do that, he slid up the track a little bit.
“It was real tight between me and Nath, but I don’t think with the final margin that he was ever going to get me, so I think that’s why they kept the placings.”
WHAT A CHAMP! WHAT A SEASON!
Just Believe wins the TAB Australian Trotting Grand Prix and caps his domination of the famed Aurora Australis series with a big win for trainer Jess Tubbs and reinsman Bailey McDonough, who claims his first Group 1. pic.twitter.com/s7CZs0nFgu— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) February 25, 2023
It was great relief for McDonough, with his first Group 1 triumph coming in his 20th start at the level that had previously yielded six placings.
“It feels absolutely unreal, the faith that Jess and Greg and all the owners have put into me to drive this horse tonight, it’s an unreal feeling and to get the job done is next level,” he said.
“When they were doing the replay I was a little bit nervous, but I was a little bit overwhelmed to be honest with the whole thing.”
The win elevated Just Believe’s Aurora Australis total to 31 points for the eight-leg series, having produced three wins, a second and a third from his five starts. It’s a prestigious victory that carries a $50,000 bonus for his loyal group of owners.
He finished 11 points clear of Im Ready Jet, with Aldebaran Zeus (17 points), Plymouth Chubb (16 points) and Majestic Man (16 points) other outstanding performers across the series, which kicked off with the January 7 Maori Mile.
The next best performer was Sleepee, who finished sixth in the series despite bypassing tonight’s race for the Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed Gold Series Final.
It proved a sound decision by trainer Alison Alford, with the speedy mare breaking through in the $50,000 Group 2 to notch up her first victory since August 2021 in the hands of reinsman Josh Duggan.
“She’s been crying out to win a race and it’s just great to get a win on her,” he said.
Duggan said the victory was all the more special because it gave him a chance to reward Alison and Chris Alford for their long-time support.
“(The Alfords) give me the opportunity to drive these horses when Chris can’t. I’ve been with them 14 years now, they pretty much took me in when I moved over when I was 16,” he said.
“It’s just great to get a win for them, especially in this race. They’ve been a great supporter of mine and it’s just capped it off.”
The features were part of a nine-race all-trotting card that also included the silver and bronze finals of the Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed series.
Ebonys Avenger claimed the silver, confirming her favourite status with a comfortable five-metre win for trainer Chris Angove and reinsman Leigh Sutton.
“She’s a terrific little filly,” Angove said. “I didn’t brush her up too much early, being my first go on her I just made sure I was safe. She dashed away from them very well, she sort of knocked off, but she got the job done.”
The bronze final went the way of Ima Destroyer, who was a well-deserved winner for trainer Brent Thomson and reinsman Nathan Jack, having done plenty of grunt work before winning by 2.5 metres.
“She got a bit keen when I first got (to the breeze), I would have liked to have gone a bit slower, but then I wanted to keep striding a little bit because I thought that she would out-tough most of them,” Jack said.
For complete race results, click here.
by Michael Howard for Harness Racing Victoria
