Thrilling dead heat in John Higgins Memorial

The judge could not split Major Jay (Art Major) and Onesmartfella (Tintin In America) as they fought out an epic finish in the $50,000 John Higgins Memorial Final the main harness racing event at Gloucester Park on Friday evening.

In a wide betting race favourite Cee Dee Three found the early lead and it appeared that he would be hard to beat once left alone. Major Jay was caught wide early and driver Gary Hall Jnr decided to race outside the leader which was not entirely unexpected as he had won his heat in that manner.

Hunt The Magic was behind the leader with Sound Wave back in the field but then having to go three wide. In the meantime Onesmartfella only had one runner behind him in the capacity twelve runner field.

The field packed up in the back straight with a number of runners out wide including Sound Wave who at one stage was four wide turning for home.

Cee Dee Three still led but Major Jay continued to beaver away and he got the better of the favourite. It looked for Onesmartfella who was still well back but driver Chris Lewis weaved his way through the pack with Sound Wave and they along with Major Jay went to the line virtually locked together. In the end a dead heat was declared between Major Jay and Onesmartfella with Sound Wave a half head away third.

MAJOR JAY AND ONESMARTFELLA AUG 1 REPLAY 

Hall Jnr was uncertain at the finish.

“I wasn’t sure whether I had got there. I thought I was definitely gone at the top of the straight but then on the line I had a look across. I thought I had done enough to hold on. And so at the top of the straight if you said I could have a dead heat I would have grabbed it with both hands.”

Similarly Lewis was not totally confident.

“I couldn’t line the other horse up so I thought we probably did win but as it was we did win it but won it with something else. He got a nice run into it. We were baled away back a little bit, but we ended up getting a reasonable run in. He’s got home good. Jemma and Ross Hayman (the trainers) are doing well”.

The race was run in a winning mile rate of 1.58.8.

Earlier in the evening powerhouse pacers Mighty Ronaldo (Alta Christiano) and Magnificent Storm were involved in an enthralling battle in the Free For All mobile pace with the former claiming honours on the line and Alcopony in third place.

It was a classic tactical battle as Gary Hall Jnr found the lead with Mighty Ronaldo and Aiden De Campo on Magnificent Storm deciding to go up and not let Mighty Ronaldo dictate the terms of the pace.

The two raced together and Hall allowed Mighty Ronaldo to set a fast pace but he got a crucial breather in running 29.5 seconds for his first quarter. But he then ran his final two quarters in 27.7 and 27.8 seconds to really put it to Magnificent Storm who edged up to draw near level with Mighty Ronaldo on straightening.

MIGHTY RONALDO AUG 1 REPLAY

But while Mighty Ronaldo kept giving Magnificent Storm refused to give in and at the finish Mighty Ronaldo had just over two metres to spare over Magnificent Storm.

In winning Mighty Ronaldo joins the $1 million club alongside Magnificent Storm who ran a sterling race second up.

Gary Hall Jnr praised Mighty Ronaldo but equally was admirable of Magnificent Storm.

“I didn’t want to get caught out going too hard too soon because you know Storm is going to keep coming. The 29.5 seconds first quarter put a bit of a smile on my face and thought from there with the quality of the horse we had underneath we could make him earn it from there”.

“He did a terrific job”.

“Storm never knows when to lie down, you never know you’ve got him until you’ve got him. I was pretty confident at the 400 metres as Aiden was getting a bit itchy on him. Ronnie was still going pretty good then Storm made up half a length on us just before we straightened. I thought this was a true test to see what he’s got left. He kicked really well. It’s a credit to Justin Prentice the trainer and the team to put him up to a race like that”.

“He’s going as good as he can go. You could argue a career best”.

Magnificent Storm will be improved by that run and harness racing fans should be looking to their future clashes which hopefully will culminate in this year’s edition of the Group 1 WA Pacing Cup to be staged in November.

For complete race results, click here.

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink