Harness Highlights

By Tim O’Connor (HRV)

Ofortuna provided the shock of the evening when she claimed a boil over victory in the third and final heat.

With favourite One Over All (Tubbs/Sugars) galloping soon after the start, Jodi Quinlan sent the Craig Demmler-trained mare to the front and then took a trail behind Nephew Of Sonoko (Ross Graham/James Herbertson).

Quinlan then peeled the five-year-old out at the top of the straight and she did enough to fend off Mufasa Metro (John Justice) by a half-head, with Queensland visitor Majestic Harry (Stephanie and Brittany Graham) running a ripper for third.

Ofortuna wouldn’t have gained a start in the Inter Dominion without Harness Racing Victoria’s decision to add an extra heat to the trotting series earlier this month, with the horse ranked 28th in the overall order of entry.

“It feels like I’ve won the final,” Demmler said post-race.

“I was just rapt to get in it to tell you the truth…

“We were probably very lucky to get in an easier heat, even though the one of John Justice’s is a very good horse. I’m just rapt to come out here and win tonight.”

Horses will continue to accumulate points for finishing positions on Tuesday night in Shepparton and Geelong next Saturday evening, with the top 12 performers through the heats securing a place in the $250,000 grand final on December 10 at Tabcorp Park Melton.

Just Believe and Queen Elida were expected to fight out the opening heat of the night, and it played out just as many expected.

Greg Sugars sent Just Believe to the lead shortly after the start and that’s where he stayed, dictating the tempo in front before fending off the challenge from Brent Lilley’s star mare, who sprinted fast from the one-one but could only bridge the gap to two-and-a-half metres.

“We saw last year through the Sydney (Inter Dominion) campaign for (former trainer) Mick (Hughes), they said he just thrived on it and he’s a very resilient sort of customer,” Sugars said.

“To get a soft first-up run, you think it’s going to do him the world of good moving into round two.”

Chinese Whisper (Andy and Kate Gath) finished strongly for third, with Lotamuscle (Matthew Craven) coming home in fourth.