Just Believe’s outstanding Aurora Australis series was capped in fittingly winning style, gifting reinsman Bailey McDonough a maiden Group 1 and his big band of connections another mighty thrill.
The Larajay Farms gelding produced a seventh win in his last nine starts in capturing the TAB Australian Trotting Grand Prix, a $100,000 Group 1 triumph for trainer Jess Tubbs that added to his E B Cochran and Great Southern Star successes and made him a runaway winner of the rich Victorian series.
“He’s absolutely thriving off the work and what he does at home and it obviously shows on the race track,” McDonough said.
Just Believe was in command throughout the 2240-metre affair, despite Majestic Man pressing throughout a brisk 43.7-second lead time and with major danger Im Ready Jet lying in wait on his back.
While the Kiwi tired the latter was ever present, with Nathan Jack setting Im Ready Jet free off the final turn to challenge Just Believe in the run to the line.
The leader showed his customary fight to hold off the challenge and win by two metres, an important margin given Just Believe appeared to drift into his rival’s path in the run to the line that likely contributed to Im Ready Jet racing roughly late.
“He was on one rein quite bad,” McDonough said. “He does tend to do that, he slid up the track a little bit.
“It was real tight between me and Nath, but I don’t think with the final margin that he was ever going to get me, so I think that’s why they kept the placings.”
It was great relief for McDonough, with his first Group 1 triumph coming in his 20th start at the level that had previously yielded six placings.
“It feels absolutely unreal, the faith that Jess and Greg and all the owners have put into me to drive this horse tonight, it’s an unreal feeling and to get the job done is next level,” he said.
“When they were doing the replay I was a little bit nervous, but I was a little bit overwhelmed to be honest with the whole thing.”
The win elevated Just Believe’s Aurora Australis total to 31 points for the eight-leg series, having produced three wins, a second and a third from his five starts. It’s a prestigious victory that carries a $50,000 bonus for his loyal group of owners.
He finished 11 points clear of Im Ready Jet, with Aldebaran Zeus (17 points), Plymouth Chubb (16 points) and Majestic Man (16 points) other outstanding performers across the series, which kicked off with the January 7 Maori Mile.
The next best performer was Sleepee, who finished sixth in the series despite bypassing tonight’s race for the Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed Gold Series Final.
It proved a sound decision by trainer Alison Alford, with the speedy mare breaking through in the $50,000 Group 2 to notch up her first victory since August 2021 in the hands of reinsman Josh Duggan.
Michael Howard
