In an eerie way, it was a case of déjà vu.
Gallant pacer Tiger Tara demolished his rivals with a powerhouse front running performance to win the Gr.1 $500,000 TAB Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Final at TABCORP Park, Melton defeating Our Uncle Sam and Cruz Bromac in the 2760m feature.
Just like in the opening leg of the 2018/19 Australian Pacing Gold Grand Circuit, the Victoria Cup back in October, the Kevin Pizzuto trained and Todd McCarthy driven millionaire was allowed to drift in betting before making his rivals pay with a crushing victory.
In the Victoria Cup, Tiger Tara bossed and bullied his rivals which included Perth star Chicago Bull before running away with the 2240m feature event.
And it was a strikingly similar display tonight (Saturday).
With noted speedster Mach Doro firing off the mobile arm to lead from gate four, Tiger Tara quickly pounced on the opportunity to make a play for the lead role.
Within 300m, Tiger Tara and Todd McCarthy held top while rivals jostled for early positions.
From there, Tiger Tara was always in control and started to get comfortable very quickly before rolling out the brutal punishment.
Tiger Tara led the way from Mach Doro and San Carlo who quickly worked off the pegs following the early miscue from Galactic Star.
Champion driver Gavin Lang made the first move behind Im Pats Delight and quickly raced outside of Tiger Tara before San Carlo looped around again.
The lead time was covered in 82.3 seconds.
Tiger Tara traveled strongly and McCarthy was able to size up his rivals before increasing the pressure over the final mile.
The first half was covered in splits of 30.1 and 28.7 seconds.
Entering the back straight, the move came from Spankem who pulled three-wide and was immediately followed up by his stablemate Cruz Bromac and then Our Uncle Sam.
But with that move, McCarthy only increased his pressure on the Tiger Tara accelerator.
The third split was timed in a blistering 26.3 seconds.
Heading off the back straight, Tiger Tara opened up with a big lead and McCarthy continued to chirp his brilliant pacer along while rivals were left in his wake.
At the finish, Tiger Tara ($6) scored by 14.4 metres from Our Uncle Sam ($34.50) with a further 1.4 metres back to Cruz Bromac ($4) in third placing.
Race favourite Spankem ($3.60) finished fourth.
The last 400m was covered in 27.9 seconds.
The winning mile rate of 1:53.9 established a new track record after eclipsing the mark previously held by Lazarus at 1:54.1.
“My family has been trying to win this race for a long time and now we’ve finally done it, I think it’s going to take a while to sink in but at the moment it’s unbelievable,” McCarthy said.
“I said to Kev before the race it’s the best he’s looked for a long time and he felt good down the back straight and I thought it was time to go and if we were good enough we’d be good enough. It worked out terrific, he’s such a gutsy horse and I’m so lucky to drive him.”
The Inter Dominion triumph takes McCarthy tally of Gr.1 winners to four while Pizzuto has now prepared a trio, of which all have come this calendar year.
Tonight’s victory only enhances the lead of Tiger Tara in the Grand Circuit after claiming maximum points in the Victoria Cup followed by his narrow defeat in the New Zealand Cup last month.
As it stands, Tiger Tara moves to 260 points which is well clear of his New Zealand Cup conqueror Thefixer (100).
The next leg of the APG Grand Circuit is the $250,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Cup at Alexandra Park on December 31.
