Maidstone Miss, pictured winning the Redwood Classic, won her Breeders Crown heat on Monday
Maidstone Miss and Aldebaran Shades will renew their burgeoning rivalry in the Australasian Breeders Crown Final after both scored heat victory at Maryborough on Monday.
The youngsters who fought out the Group 1 Redwood Classic at the same track on July 17 took the direct route to the $164,000 Breeders Crown 2YO Trotters Final when they survived close calls to score heat success.
Redwood champion Maidstone Miss had to pull out all stops to get home from Redwood third placegetter Zedalite in today’s second heat.
The Chris Alford-trained former Kiwi always looked to have the race in her keeping, but a stubborn display from Zedalite meant the $1.90 had to dig deep over the concluding stages of a 28.6-second final quarter to get home by a short half head.
The mile rate was 2:05.7, which was 0.9secs faster than the Chris Lang-trained-and-driven Aldebaran Shades went on the way to a 1.2-metre win over a gutsy Mister Gunsen as $1.20 favourite in the third heat.
The middle two juvenile heats were the only joy for favourite backers with the other two qualifiers providing upset results.
Tatlow winner Prescient went under as a $1.30 favourite when he galloped in the home straight in the first heat, paving the way for $18 chance Leavemein to get home, while $8 chance Tendaho upset favoured pair Shes An Image ($2.10) and Amore Stride ($2.20) in the final heat.
The two-year-old events were part of a bumper day of Breeders Crown trotting action with a trio of three-year-old events also staged. They also proved a challenge for punters with favourites going down in all three qualifiers.
Victoria Trotters Oaks heroine Adhesive could manage only third to Stephen John ($6) and Theywannacallmesue ($16) as a $2.10 favourite in a 2:04.3 mile rate in the first three-year-old heat.
Vicbred Super Series champion Elegant Image ($1.60) also had to settle for third, breaking when challenged by $2.40 second favourite Lightning Joy ($2.40) in the home straight. Lightning Joy mile-rated an impressive 2:03.4
That was 1.5sec faster than Aleppo Sunrise went when running down $1.60 favourite Stoned I Am in the final heat of the day.
With no semi-finals in the trotting divisions of the Breeders Crown, Monday’s winners all progress straight to their respective finals at Melton’s Tabcorp Park on “Super Sunday”, August 21.
The dream isn’t over for the beaten brigade, however, with the August 11 repechage round at Geelong providing them with one final chance to qualify for the final.
