A merciless, mercenary performance has seen former American superstar Mr Feelgood complete a unique Trans-Atlantic Grand Slam and stake a significant claim to being Australasia’s pre-eminent pacer
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Installed a $3.90 second favourite on the popular premise that he would find the front first in the $425,000 Group 1 SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup of 2010, the eight-year-old son of Grinfromeartoear had no such luck, but still proved too strong for one of the finest fields in the history of the race.
Featuring prominently in the frenetic fight for early supremacy with Melpark Major and Lonestar Legend which led to a frantic 44.6-second lead time, Luke McCarthy soon saw the writing on the wall and restrained Mr Feelgood for cover to conserve him for a considered crack at the top soon thereafter.
Peeling out from his one by one sweet seat through consistent but controlled first half fractions of 30.9 and 30.5 seconds respectively, McCarthy felt sure that the lead would be his, but with Amy Tubbs already sacrificing so much of her efforts to hold the top early, she was loathe to let it go on Melpark Major then.
Always revered for his breathtaking speed over the short course, Mr Feelgood was forced to face the breeze for the majority of the last lap and when Smoken Up made his move three spiders wide with Villagem strapped hard to his back it seemed certain the expat Yank would be the first horse beaten.
But when the fireworks flew through a penultimate section of 28.1, Miracle Mile champion Smoken Up and 2008 Vic Cup King Melpark Major were the first two to wave the white flag as Mr Feelgood knuckled down for the fight of his life.
Hitting the top with 100 metres to run, the brilliant champion easily held off the late challenges of luckless Kiwi raider Sleepy Tripp and superstar Sandgroper Im Themightyquinn, taking out yet another Barastoc Grand Circuit major by a tick over two metres in a mile rate of 1:55.9.
The victory was arguably Mr Feelgood’s finest down under and further underlined his improvement while in the care of gun young horseman McCarthy.
“He’s just a beautiful horse to train and even after a few things went wrong tonight when she [Amy Tubbs] didn’t hand up on Melpark Major, he still proved too good, which was just fantastic,” the young star said.
“It’s just a pleasure to go to the stables every day and work with a horse like him, so I owe a big thank you to the owners for giving me the opportunity to look after him.
“Hopefully we can keep him going for the rest of the season and keep winning big races.”
Mr Feelgood now has both a Victoria and Hunter Cup trophy and an Inter Dominion crown to go with his Little Brown Jug won in the United States - making him the greatest dual-hemisphere pacer to have raced on our shores.
(Australian Harness Racing)
Mr Feelgood now has both a
Mr Feelgood now has both a Victoria and Hunter Cup trophy and an Inter Dominion crown to go with his Little Brown Jug won in the United States - making him the greatest dual-hemisphere pacer to have raced on our shores.
The writer is either not old enough to have seen either Cardigan Bay or Young Quinn race or has underestimated the accomplishments of those two pacing champions from a by gone era. Rating Mr Feelgood as "the greatest dual-hemisphere pacer" might be stretching it.