Race 8 at Bankstown today produced one of the most inspiring of drives I have seen in an awful long time. G McElhinney drove one of those races that you either look brilliant if it comes off, or a goose if you don't. From the gate he sooled Tessace out and engaged in a three way speed battle before finally resting the lead from Romulus. She kept a healthy lead past the bell then took off again down the back setting up a huge lead, enough to see her get home on very tired legs. It is the sort of driving that creates excitement in racing, the type we dont see often enough these days. Initiative, together with knowing your horse and seizing on opportunity, just a great drive. Loved it.
On the other hand, the first of the three to pull out of the speed battle was the $2.10 fav, Rockson, which settled perfectly in third, behind Romulus $73 in second. Driven by D C Caffyn, for some unknown reason allowed Rockson to stay in that position as the rest of the pack joined Romulus and Rockson approaching the bell. Now I might just be a grandstand driver, but for the life of me why Rockson stayed behind a $70 chance and allowed himself to get held up at a vital stage instead of popping off the pegs and getting a suck up behind the eventual winner is absolutely beyond me. Not saying that Rockson could have beat the winner which had set up a massive lead but it did get within 8m of the winner. Romulus which was going nowhere down the back (except holding up Rockson) finished an unbelievable 182m behind the winner. If the stewards are fair dinkum about unacceptable or inept drives here is a classic example. The vision is not available on the results page yet but will probably be there tomorrow. We will never know if Tessace would have got run down. It was a blight in what was an absolute bottler of a race. Talk about two entirely different types of drives. View the results (and the vision when it becomes available) on http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-re...K070512&ms=nsw
If for no other reason than to just watch a great front running display, it is worth a look.
Vision now available on trots tv http://www.trotstv.com.au/?id=4414
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