Frankie Ferocious left champion reinsman Cameron Hart in a quandary when he rated 1:49.3 to win Saturday night’s $250,000 Cordina Chicken Farms Chariots of Fire at Club Menangle.
It gave leading Menangle trainer Jason Grimson two runners in next weekend’s $1m Miracle Mile after Hi Manameisjeff scored a powerful win early in the evening in the Allied Express Sprint.
Frankie Ferocious, Hi Manameisjeff and Speak The Truth won the three major races on Saturday night to seal spots in the big one.
Spirit Of St Louis and Loyalist also earned invitations by finishing second in the two qualifying sprints.
Club Menangle’s selectors then added the two Kiwi visitors Don’t Stop Dreaming and Sooner the Better to the field for the $1m Garrards Miracle Mile next Saturday night.
That made the final field: Leap to Fame, Speak The Truth, Spirit Of St Louis, Hi Manameisjeff, Loyalist, Frankie Ferocious, Don’t Stop Dreaming, Sooner The Better.
The two emergencies named were Curly James (1) and South Coast Arden (2).
It was Frankie Ferocious who had everyone talking after he rated 1:49.3 to win the Chariots Of Fire, beating Sooner The Better and Captains Knock.
Amazingly, Frankie Ferocious over-raced when they passed the post the first time, prompting trainer Grimson to suggest if he could get a nice trail in next week’s Group 1, he could really show everyone just how fast he was.
Not that anyone doubted Frankie’s turn of foot.
The four-year-old son of Captain Treacherous easily crossed the three rivals drawn to his inside and found the front without any problems.
Hart was then able to control the race just as he had hoped and after a 27.0s opening split of the mile, he was able to back off the speed with a 29.4s split before steaming home in a 53s half (quarters of 26.6 and 26.4) to give nothing else a chance as he scored a one and three-quarter metre win over Sooner The Better with Captains Knock a fast-finishing third and outsider Rocknroll Hammer coming from near last to finish fourth.
“It was such a great field with the Kiwis here and to win a race like this is pretty special,” Hart said afterwards.
“I did have my heart in my mouth a bit when we passed the post the first time and I kept a good hold of him for about 50m just to balance him up.
“He loses concentration a bit when he is on his own, so I just had to gather him up for a good second half.”
