Kiwi Glory In Derby Heats

29 January, 2005 As expected a New Zealand-trained pacer took out the second $20,000 Alabar Victoria Derby heat at Ballarat tonight, but it wasnt the heavily-backed Tribute as many punters had hoped. Place Of Glory, a winner at just one of his previous 17 appearances, scored the second upset of the series when he cruised to victory at odds of $39.90. Driven brilliantly by New South Wales young gun Blake Fitzpatrick, Place Of Glory was given time to settle in a swiftly run affair before unleashing a devastating three wide sprint from the 600 metre mark. On the line, the Geoff Small-trained colt had three-and-a-half metres to spare on his countryman Tribute (John Caldow) with dual Derby placegetter Flyingrama (Shane Graham) a further five metres back in third after occupying several spots throughout the run. Whilst comfortably beaten, Tribute lost few admirers after working hard out three wide through the middle stages before finding the spot outside the leader for the final lap. Unwanted by punters, Place Of Glory surprised many with his impressive performance, but not so Fitzpatrick. Hes always only been a length behind the good ones in New Zealand, so he was going to be very competitive with the right trip, Fitzpatrick said. Really he did it quite within himself tonight, which gives us a lot of confidence for next week. Geoff Small is a master trainer and he had him spot on tonight, so full credit goes to him. Place Of Glory rated 1:59.7 for the 2200 metre event through quarters of 30.4, 29.8, 30.3 and a slick closing panel of 28.4. Fourth across the line was the emergency Grinforseymour who charged out to lead before taking a trail behind Flyingrama, who subsequently lost the pacesetters role after a lightning mid-race by Chris Alford on Armbro Excel. Place Of Glorys victory gave the highly-rated stallion Badlands Hanover his second Derby success of the night after Jaccka Sachems shock victory in the opening qualifier. Part-owned by Australian and New Zealand interests, Place Of Glory is likely to remain in Australia after next Saturdays $150,000 final at Moonee Valley and join the all-conquering New South Wales stable of Fitzpatricks father, Paul.