Captain Joy cruises home in the Breeders Crown semi final
The title of Australia’s premier male three-year-old will be decided in the Tabcorp Australasian Breeders Crown Final after Captain Joy and Bonavista Bay stuck to the script at Tabcorp Park on Friday night.
The star duo locked in the decider harness racing have been praying for with convincing, but contrasting, semi final wins at Melton’s Tabcorp Park.
Susan Hunter-trained pocket rocket Captain Joy, the reigning Breeders Crown champion, led and did no more than necessary to hold off fast-finishing Kiwi Tintin In America and Living On Fire for a 1:57.6 win as a $1.30 favourite.
Half an hour later robust Bonavista Bay, trained by Emma Stewart at Smythes Creek, faced the breeze for the last 1200m, but blew his rivals away in the home straight for an ever-widening nine-metre win in 1:57.7 at $1.20.
Both colts will be striving to keep an undefeated three-year-old season in tact when they face off in a mouth-watering $170,000 Group 1 final at Tabcorp Park on August 23.
Bonavista Bay’s driver Chris Alford is excited to be a part of the final and said the star duo’s differing styles make the race even more intriguing.
“Bonavista Bay is a giant and Captain Joy is a lot more compact, but they’ve both got big engines and that’s the main thing,” he said. “Captain Joy was brilliant again tonight as well, so it’s going to be a great race.”
Gavin Lang, who guided Captain Joy to his 13th win in a row, echoed Alford’s sentiments, but doesn’t expect the star pair’s rivals to hand the final to them on a platter.
“I’m sure there won’t be any favours because reputations mean nothing when you’re talking about big races like this,” Lang said.
“All the horses in the final are there for a reason and you can never discount any of your rivals. It should be a great race.”
The feature of Bonavista Bay’s 11th-straight win was a 57.4-second final 800m from the death seat.
The son of Rustler Hanover gapped his rivals, but there was only 1-3/4m between the next five home. Emjayem Grand pipped Villagem for second, just ahead of Garnet River with Indigo Bay and Lombo Crusader in fifth and sixth.
Rounding out the top six placings behind Captain Joy, a son of Mach Three who covered the last 800m in 56secs, and securing a place in the final were On Any Day, Staghorn Flat and Dominate Line.
