John Dunne
The Emma Stewart stable’s TAB Eureka plans were thrown into disarray at Melton on Saturday night.
Stewart, who took out the inaugural running of the race with Encipher, launched Victoria Derby winner Petracca’s Eureka campaign when that pacer was sent out a favourite in a NR 80 to 89 event.
Petracca lobbed along three back in the running line and loomed up around the home turn before being beaten into fourth place behind Operative Line who enjoyed the run of the race on the back of the leader Crime Writer.
An hour later Stewart was looking for the lightly raced High Above to atone for his first up last behind American Legacy after galloping in the score up the previous week.
High Above too had an economical run mid field in the running line but was no match for the Jess Tubbs prepared Hes From Heaven who bounced into Eureka contention when he outclassed his rivals in the Benstud Standardbred Pace.
Earlier in the night the Stewart trained four-year-old Perfect Class did his chances of gaining a berth in the Eureka no harm when he led all the way in the Allied Express Free For All defeating Rakero Rebel and Ubetcha Tigerpie.
Perfect Class is on the third line of betting for the Eureka while both Petracca and High Above remain on the second line behind joint favourites Frankie Ferocious and Never Ending.
Later in the night the Michael Stanley prepared four-year-old Exotic Bushranger emerged as a contender in the world’s richest harness race when he upset the Stewart trained favourite Very Pretty in the Logical Staff Solutions Pace.
Exotic Bushranger sped across to find the pegs from its outside draw and Stanley was able to dictate the terms of the race to suit himself during the middle stages before Very Pretty sprinted quickly to join him in a slick 26.5 back straight quarter.
The pair engaged in a two horse war from the 400 metre mark however Exotic Bushranger refused to yield when headed by the favourite and fought back to score by a head.
Stanley said he intended to make the race a ‘survival of the fittest’.
“My bloke is very strong and I wanted to turn it into a staying test and I knew my guy would keep digging in and that’s the way it turned out,” Stanley said.
Stanley believes Exotic Bushranger would prove highly competitive in the TAB Eureka should he gain a berth.
“It would be nice if there are any Eureka slots available and if any slot holder is looking, he’s won three races at metropolitan from only 10 starts and they only have to watch what he’s doing and they will have a horse that will compete really well for them, “he said.
“He’s a really progressive horse who could really step up and be dangerous in a race like that.”
