Jaccka Clive, pictured in an earlier win at Melton, won the final country cup for 2011
David Aiken produced one of the most dominant training performances ever seen on the Choice Hotels Country Cups circuit at Cobram on Wednesday.
The Avenel horseman achieved the rare feat of supplying a Country Cup trifecta when Jaccka Clive, Composed and Smudge Bromac fought out the $25,000 Jim Phillips Memorial Cobram Pacing Cup (2768m).
If that wasn’t good enough, Aiken also won the day’s key support race, the $15,000 Central Murray Credit Union Cobram Trotters Cup, with Inter Dominion Trotting Championship hopeful Im Dejazzman.
Aiken said the day was up among the most satisfying in his harness racing career.
“I thought I had three pretty good chances before the race but you never really think you’re going to go one-two-three,” Aiken said. “It was really satisfying.”
Jaccka Clive added the Cobram Cup to the St Arnaud and Yarra Valley features he claimed in 2009 when he capitalised on a crack Greg Sugars drive to atone for last year’s Cobram Cup second placing with a narrow-but-impressive win.
Sugars had the seven-year-old, who started $3.20 favourite, perfectly positioned in the one-out-one-back off a solid tempo being set by Composed and was able to bide his time there until the 500m, at which time vacated the sweet seat to edge to mount a charge.
Composed ($5.40, Chris Alford) turned with a healthy lead and still led by more than four metres at the 100m, but Jaccka Clive knuckled down towards the end of a slick 27.8-second final quarter to claim the lead a couple of strides from home and score a half-neck win in a 2:00.2 mile rate.
Smudge Bromac ($8.90), with Aiken in the cart, made good ground from the rear after galloping away to complete the trifecta, just under six metres from the winner.
“In the run, with Composed leading and Jaccka Clive in the one-one, I thought they were nearly going to fight the finish out,” Aiken said. “Everything just worked out really well.”
Earlier, Im Dejazzman continued his outstanding form with a ruthless display in the trotting feature.
The former New South Wales squaregaiter, who only joined Aiken at the start of the month, backed up his win at Tabcorp Park Melton on Victoria Cup Night to destroy a handy field in the 2768m standing start affair.
The Sundon eight-year-old, who started a hot $1.50 favourite, had more than 18m to spare over Armed Guard ($7.10) at the end of a 2:03.3 mile rate with Retained ($13) two metres away third.
“I like him a lot, they’ve sent him down here for the Inters and while he’s probably not up to the very best ones, he won’t be out of place in the nice trotting races,” Aiken said. “He’s going good at the right time I think.”