On a weekend when Kiwis dominated the Australasian Breeders Crown, Cran Dalgety was the biggest winner of all.
New Zealand-trained pacers won four semifinals at Ballarat on Saturday night, providing a trifecta in one race and the quinella in another as machines like Follow The Stars and Our Sky Majorwere explosive.
However, the training performance of the weekend came at Melton yesterday when Bit Of A Legend returned with a stunning heat win in his 4-year-old male pacing division.
Having not raced since a disastrous Perth campaign last November and troubled by soreness, Bit Of A Legend was produced in superb order by Dalgety and was able to sit parked and still thrash his rivals.
That suggests next Sunday he can become a racing rarity - a three-time Breeders Crown winner.
"I can't believe how easily he did that," said beaming driver Dexter Dunn after the comeback.
As pleasing as that was, trainer Dalgety and driver Dunn had an even more significant moment an hour later when Katy Perry drew perfectly in the competitive 2-year-old pacing fillies' final.
The race is completely dominated by New Zealand horses, who will fill five of the first six places in the market and after winning their semis either Katy Perry or Linda Lovegrace could have started favourite.
Katy Perry secured that honour when she drew barrier four, while Linda Lovegrace is forced to start from the inside of the second line, almost the worst possible barrier.
With Joanne's A Delight, Big Lucy and Niki No No also drawn in the second line, the A$291,000 ($319,000) race is Katy Perry's to lose.
Follow The Stars was so dynamic winning his semi on Saturday night, even drawing the outside of the front line in the final wasn't enough to budge him from long odds-on favouritism.
The race of the weekend was won by Our Sky Major when he overcame driver Zac Butcher being caught napping mid-race when Bling It On swooped to the lead, leaving punters fretting when the Kiwi would get a run.
But when he did at the 150m mark Our Sky Major flew, breaking 26 seconds for his last 400m to grab Bling It On.
While he won the battle on the track though, he lost the barrier draw as he will start from the outside of the second line, while Bling It On drew barrier three so will start favourite.
