THE stage is set for October 18 at Melton.
Yes, it is Victoria Cup night, but it will also decide this year’s Trotting Masters champion.
The last of the four legs in the series, the Bill Collins Sprint, is the trotting feature on Victoria Cup night.
And star Victorian pair Arcee Phoenix and Keayang Chucky will go into tied at the top of the Trotting Masters’ points table on 140.
Arcee Phoenix grabbed a share of the lead with his sparkling all-the-way win in last Saturday night’s $500,000 Ladbrokes Inter Dominion trotting final at Albion Park.
Keayang Chucky was at home building towards a racetrack return in coming weeks.
But Arcee Phoenix is certainly the top trotting seed in this part of the world after adding the Inter Dominion crown to his breakthrough major win in the TAB Trot in New Zealand back on April 4.
The six-year-old is rewarding training driver Chris Svanosio for his patience.
“The ability has always been there, but he certainly hasn’t been a push-button trotter. He’s needed time and patience to do things his way and work it all out,” Svanosio said.
“We spent so long trying to get him to go slower and relax so by this stage of his career we could cut him loose when we needed to.
“That was last Saturday. He had the draw and in front was where I wanted to be. I thought he’d get his best chance from there.
“Leading was the first thing, and although he still did get a bit keen in front, keener than I would’ve liked, he got away with a comfortable run and did it easily at the finish.
“You grow up watching the great horses win the Inter Dominion and it’s the sort of thing you dream about doing yourself one day … it’ll take a while to fully sink in that we’ve done it.”
Trotting Masters Points Table
