Jonny Cox followed in the family footsteps when bolter Jaccka Justy won yesterday's Dominion like a hot favourite.
The enigmatic Otago squaregaiter may have been 27-1 in our richest trot but he bolted to a two and a quarter length win after some of his key rivals blew their chances.
Defending champion Master Lavros, the heavily-backed Cool Cobber and Irish Whisper all galloped inside the first lap while Jaccka Justy did everything perfectly from the unruly to find himself beautifully-placed in the running line, from where Cox launched his winning run from the 500m mark.
At that stage favourite Stent, who had moved up to sit parked in a beautiful drive from Colin De Filippi, looked to have the race as his mercy, with the danger likely to be trailer Sheemon.
But Stent once again found the 3200m outside his stamina range and disappointed, while Sheemon lost valuable momentum behind tiring leader Clover Don, all of this happening while Jaccka Justy was getting up a head of steam out wide.
That saw him race clear, giving Cox plenty of time to unleash a world class whip flourish over the last 50m.
Cox trains the eight-year-old with Amber Hoffman and he was adding his name to the Dominion honour roll on which his family already has one of the all-time greats.
Cox's grandfather bred and owned mid-1990s trotting mammoth David Moss, who won the Dominion in both 1993 and 94, with Cox's father John senior training him intermittently before sending him north to the likes of Robert Cameron or Clive Herbert for major races.
"This race means so much to our family and anybody who loves trotters so that was really special," said Cox.
He and Hoffman now need to plot the next course for Jaccka Justy, who qualified for Australasia's richest trot, the A$400,000 Great Southern Star in Victoria in March with this win.
His win is also a fitting reward for the dedication to the industry of owners Charlie and Ailsa Smaill.
While Jaccka Justy has a plethora of rich options over the summer, some of trotting's biggest names need to go back to the drawing board.
Defending champion Master Lavros is clearly not right after galloping when moving forward two laps to go, continuing a woeful spring.
Stent will be more potent back to shorter trips while Cool Cobber is better right-handed.
