PETE McMullen was lost for words after Gus’ breathtaking win in New Zealand’s biggest trotting race.
McMullen was as blown away by the enormity of the occasion as he was Gus’ last-to-first win in the $NZ400,000 Group 1 Dominion Trot at Addington.
“What about this … I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I thought we were coming to a big race, but I had no idea it would be like this.”
Gus upstaged many of Australasia’s best trotters in front of a packed Addington crowd on New Zealand Cup Day.
“This is unreal, we don’t have anything like this at home. It’s going to take a while to soak in.”
This was the performance Gus, a former Kiwi trotter himself, has long promised to deliver.
The six-year-old has always shown amazing speed and sheer talent, but his manners have been a challenge.
“It’s so great to see it all come together, especially on a day like this,” McMullen said.
“We’ve loved him and his speed since he first came to us from NZ, but he’s taken some work for Chantal and me.
“Even if you go right back to the Great Square a couple of years back, he showed then the sort of potential he had. It’s still one of the best runs of his career.”
Gus settled near the rear as expected from a wide back row draw from the standing-start, but was suited when the leaders, including star Aussie pair Jilliby Ballerini and Arcee Phoenix, set-up a blazing first half of the marathon 3200m trip.
“The pace suited, as long as they came up for air at some stage so I could get into it and thankfully they did,” McMullen said.
“He showed all that speed of his when I let him go, but it seemed a long way down the home straight after hitting the front so soon.”
But Gus just kept going to easily beat Kiwi pair Mr Love and Oscar Bonavena with Jilliby Ballerini and brave and luckless fourth after being caught behind a tiring leader Arcee Phoenix in the last lap.
Gus, who was the first runner Queensland has had in the Dominion Trot, had his first two starts in NZ for master trotting trainer Phil Williamson before being sold to Australia.
He gave a pointer to today’s performance with a monstrous fourth to Arcee Phoenix in the Brisbane Inter Dominion final on July 19.
Team McMullen set the gelding for the Dominion straight after that, giving him a break and sharpening him up with three runs before crossing the ditch.
The other two Aussies in the race, Parisian Artiste (11th) and Arcee Phoenix (13th), finished well.
Despite the early work he did to find the lead, Inter Dominion winner Arcee Phoenix ran way below his best.
