Majestic Man worthy winner of Worthy Queen

The Phil Williamson-trained short course specialist, Majestic Man (Majestic Son), wound back the clock in impressive fashion to capture the G3 Worthy Queen Trot at New Zealand’s premiere harness racing meeting this afternoon.

The feature trot on the Cup Day programme was the final piece in the Dominion puzzle with the majority of this afternoon’s field of ten headed to the big dance on Show Day in just three days’ time.

It was the last chance for finishing touches and for some, it was their grand final with the 2000m stand providing a unique opportunity to draw blood in a group race feature sans the company of Sundees Son (Majestic Son) and Muscle Mountain (Muscle Hill).

The now seven-year-old, Majestic Man, was one of those horses having won only two of his 10 Group Races at a distance beyond 2200m. Underpinning his love of short course racing are three Group Ones victories in Australia over sprint distances.

“He does love sprint racing. He’s fast, a very fast horse and there was no Sundees Son there, so it was good for him to show his form.

“We put a bit of effort into trying to get him right for these meetings as you do. It’s very difficult at that level as we all know, there are so many nice horses, but he’s definitely a nice horse himself. He deserves his wee day in the sun today,” said Williamson.

Today’s victory was a welcome reward for a trotter who has never shied from the gauntlet laid down by a generational talent like Sundees Son. Majestic Man has been a mainstay of our Open Class trotting features for what feels like an eternity and has rarely gone a bad race in his life since bursting onto the scene as a juvenile at two when winning the Sires Stakes Trotting Championship.

The manner in which he won today suggested there are plenty of fun yet to be had for the connections of this great horse.

The first surprise in the race came from The Dominator, who like Majestic Man is better known for his gate speed from the mobile but picked the barrier tapes cleanly to lead the ten-horse field with ease.

Second favourite, Mataderos (Dream Vacation) rolled into a gallop when getting handy shortly after dispatch which left Aardiebythehill (Muscle Hill) and Midnight Dash (Muscle Hill) to find the markers behind the pacemaker. Regular pilot Brad Williamson had Majestic Man camped off the speed throughout the 2000m journey with odds on favourite, Bolt For Brilliance caught in awkward position four back along the markers having begun from the inside of the 10m runners.

With a lap left to run, Herlihy peeled the Rowe Cup winner back to last and hooked out and around the running line three wide to get up outside the leaders. It looked like Herlihy and ‘Bolt’ would find the top at the 800m, but The Dominator and Craig Thornley kicked up and kept the favourite parked from the 800m.

Turning for home the North Island trotter kicked clear, but soon found company from those camped off the speed.

As they did last year on Cup Day, Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son) and Mark Purdon ran past Bolt For Brilliance with consummate ease. It was soon apparent the Herlihy trained runner was battling to run a drum with challenges from Aardiebythehill and Midnight Dash on his inside.

Ultimately it was the undeniable burst from Majestic Man, beautifully handled by the youngest of the Williamson boys, that secured victory storming home down the outside to claim the G3 feature.

Oscar Bonavena was brave going down by a neck in his first start back in All Stars colours while Aardiebythehill further announced his arrival to the Open Class ranks only a neck further afield in third.

The winning time of 2:28.4 saw Majestic Man smashed the longstanding NZ Record for the 2000m stand (Call Me Now- 1994) by over 3 seconds. The last mile was run in a slick 1:59.3 with the last half trotted in a fast 56.1. Majestic Man has no doubt gone half a second better than that after being last and five wide turning for home.

MAJESTIC MAN REPLAY

“We couldn’t pass up on that race (Worthy Queen) if I’m honest because it was more winnable. You have to look at where you can earn and it would be great to sit back and target a race like the Dominion but you have got to be realistic about it,” said Williamson.

“The reality is that the Dominion distance is another lap, and Sundees Son will be there, so will Muscle Mountain and Bolt For Brilliance is a woderful horse too. There are some great horses that are going to be there on Friday, but we will have a crack, we have got nothing to lose. If you’re not in, you can’t win.

When asked whether todays victory would top his charge off for the Group One feature on Friday, Williamson was frank in his assessment.

“It’s at the right place where they started today and if he’s finishing it off like that it would be pretty good too,” he laughed.

“To be honest, I think it’s nigh on impossible to beat Sundees Son on his best form, he is a champion. Our horse is a very very good horse, but Sundees Son has proven he’s a champion and won 10 or 11 Group Ones

“We’ve been fortunate to have some very nice horses and when you have a nice horse you can go and do things like he has, that’s the key too it, the good horse will make trainers look good,” he said.

Race favourite Bolt For Brilliance was run down into a fifth-place finish and with the plugs out a long way from home was a sitting duck in the end. Regardless, Herlihy put his charge in the race and on previous form the three-time Group One winner didn’t finish off his race as well as fans have to come expect.

The five-year-old son of Muscle Hill was looking to build some much-needed confidence heading into the Dominion in three days and instead, left his champion trainer scratching his head.

“We were in an awkward position early and got around them and he just battled a little bit again. It was a wee bit disappointing really, I thought he would finish it off just a little bit better,” said Herlihy.

“You probably would have liked to see him go a little bit better today so we will see what we can do,” he said.

Subsequent veterinary tests found Bolt For Brilliance to be suffering from a respiratory infection with mucus in his airways.

“The vet seemed to think that with treatment it will clear up pretty quickly but he definitely can’t start on Friday,” said Herlihy.

“So we will take him home (Auckland) and see how is when we get back there but we still have two weeks to get him to Australia to compete in the Inters so I haven’t given up on that.”