The 2005 A G Hunter Cup a race to remember

The A.G. Hunter Cup – Victoria’s feature open class race for the harness racing season will be held at Melton Entertainment Park this Saturday night, and what a race it will be. Current Inter Dominion winner Leap To Fame (Bettor’s Delight) and runner up Better Eclipse (Betterthancheddar) will again clash to do battle for the $500,000 purse.

Many Hunter Cups have been held since its inception in 1949 when the great Silver Peak (Frank Culbert) scored at the Melbourne Showgrounds in a mile rate of 2-11.

There have been a number of exceptional winners, however one of the best belonged to Kiwi five-year-old Falcon Seelster/Interchange entire Elsu in 2005 when an outstanding field contested the $450,000 race over 3050 metres at Moonee Valley.

The field consisted of (in barrier order) The Warp Drive (Vic Ian McMahon), Howard Bromac (NZ Kirk Larsen) Hexus (NSW Greg Bennett), Blue Gum Forest (NSW Emma Turnbull), Te Kanarama (NSW Graeme Watts), Harnetts Creek (NZ Gavin Lang) Flashing Red (Q’land Geoff Webster) Oscar Wild (NZ David Butt) and Mont Denver Gold (Vic Chris Alford) off the front. Mister DG (NZ Anthony Butt) and Young Rufus NZ Mark Purdon) 10m, while The Falcon Strike (WA Gary Hall Jnr) and Elsu (NZ David Butcher) shared a 20-meter back mark.

The first surprise came when Mister DG normally a brilliant beginner galloped away and wouldn’t settle tailing out, while Oscar Wild also began badly checking others in the field who had to avoid him.

The Warp Drive was best to begin from the pole being quite content to hand over the front running shortly after to Young Rufus which had stepped fast from his handicap. Fellow New Zealander Howard Bromac settled three pegs being trailed by Hexus who was followed by Mont Denver Gold, with Flashing Red wasting no time in going forward to race parked momentarily as The Falcon Strike was off and running from five back in the running line to race exposed with two circuits to travel.

With the leaders taking a breather through the middle stages, Elsu commenced a forward move three wide solo with around 1200 meters to travel as Oscar Wild latched to his back.

Trapped three wide for the remainder of the race, Elsu exploded to the front on turning in astonishing fashion and raced away to a commanding 5.4 meter victory over Flashing Red which tracked him into the final bend. Howard Bromac used the sprint lane for third 2.3 meters back with The Warp Drive a commendable fourth 1.1 meters away.

ELSU HUNTER CUP REPLAY

Trained at Pukekohe (Auckland) by one of New Zealand’s greats Geoff Small, Elsu in quarters of 29.5, 30.8, 28 and 29.5 for the final 1609 metres recorded a 2-01.9 mile rate, half a second outside Another Party’s 2-01.4 set in 2001.

Only six Hunter Cups have been held over the 3050 metre trip.

Elsu had earlier won the NSW Derby in 2003 and The Chariots Of Fire in 2004 amongst a plethora of wins including the 2005 Auckland Inter Dominion giving him a decorated track career and was later to become a wonderful sire with his progeny earning over $10 million in stakes.

by Len Baker, for Harness Racing Victoria