The grand old men of pacing may have won the day but a new kid on the block caught the eye at Alexandra Park last night.
The night's main pacing free-for-all fell to Napoleon, with the veteran continuing his remarkable summer resurgence thanks to a brilliant drive fromBrent Mangos.
But while he won and fellow pacing warriors Flashing Red and Sly Flyin showed they are on track for the March 9 Auckland Trotting Cup they were given plenty to think about by Awesome Armbro.
The 4-year-old made a great fist of his open class debut, being beaten into second placing.
Awesome Armbro trailed Napoleon early and would have been in a winning position had Mangos not handed the lead to Flashing Red with 1200m to run. That proved the masterstroke of the race as it gave Napoleon the trail and left Awesome Armbro three deep on the markers.
Mangos's gamble paid off as Napoleon had too much speed up the passing lane and Awesome Armbro only saw a clear run with 50m to run, flying into second.
That performance, and the huge tote support for Awesome Armbro, will boost his chances of making his way into the $400,000 Auckland Cup, for which there is a logjam of pacing talent.
While the runner-up was unlucky Napoleon again showed what a wonderful athlete he is.
Just four months ago he looked almost finished as an open class force when he led and stopped in the Auckland Cup but he has since returned home to score four outstanding wins at Alexandra Park.
And after having shown he can handle longer distances with wins in races like the Franklin Cup in December, he looks one of the value runners in the Cup.
Flashing Red, who was heavily backed late to start favourite, was a sound third over a distance short of his best and will have lost few supporters for the Cup while Sly Flyin indicated he is on the way back to form with a late surge for fourth.
Earlier in the night Lleyton H caused a huge upset in the main trot, winning at 32-1.
