Canowindra horseman Wayne Honan landed a near $200,000 pay day after his superstar pacer, Flightpath, stunned harness racing enthusiasts with victory in a lucrative Group One race at Ballarat on Sunday.
Bred and owned by Honan out of his local Killarney stables, Flightpath flashed down the outside of the field from a near-hopeless situation to win $197,820 in the Australasian Breeders Crown Series 10 final for two year old colts and geldings.
The seven-race winner tackled runaway leader Maffioso in the shadows of the post to seal the biggest win of his young career.
But Honan was hesitant to nominate it as the biggest win of his own career, citing a number of other major-race wins as up there with Sunday's success.
"The biggest win of my career? It's an important two-year-old race but we've won a lot of major races over the years," he said. "It's a big race to win."
Flightpath has now chalked up three straight wins and seven from 13 career starts. It looked anything but a Flightpath ($4.10) win on Sunday when the Artsplace x Express Post colt trailed Maffioso ($2.40 fav) by 10 metres when co-leader Justa Tiger ($3.80) galloped 300 metres from the finish.
But expert reinsman Greg Bennett cajoled Flightpath to kick clear from trouble rounding the home turn to challenge Maffioso. The locally-trained colt then tackled the leader
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with 50 metres to go before powering to a two-and-a-quarter metre win. Standelle ($23.60) was a further four-and-a-half metres away in third.
Honan claimed he was always confident his outstanding pacer would challenge at the finish despite a tricky inside second row draw.
"He (Mafiosso) had a bit of a lead and I knew what the horse was capable of. It was a very good effort to catch him. I had faith in him.
"We knew the one (Magic Operative, fourth) would lead early and we sort of knew where he would be in the race. If you have luck in the last half lap of the race, which he did, he avoided the scrimmage, you can win."
Flightpath's win in the semi-final last Tuesday night was eerily similar to his brilliant performance in the final, storming home on the outside to greet the judge first. Sunday's final win, as to be expected, came at a quicker mile rate of 2.00:8 and, overall, a full five seconds quicker than his semi-final win.
Bennett was a relieved driver after the $314,000 event, thanking his lucky stars for avoiding trouble around the home turn.
"I was just trying to dodge the traffic when the leader (Justa Tiger) galloped," he said.
"I had a bit of luck getting off the fence, but I didn't have much time to think about it...I just had to do my best.
"He really had to sprint quickly today because he was standing Mafiosso a couple of lengths at the top of the straight. He did a good job to round him up."
Astute trainer Honan added the spacious Ballarat track allowed Flightpath the room to mount a late surge.
Flightpath's scope has now extended across all three eastern states – New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland – with victories at the major tracks across the major city centres.
"He's been all over the place. He has now won in Victoria (Ballarat), had a few runs in Sydney (Harold Park) and in Queensland (Albion Park) and whichever track he's been at, he's won," Honan said.
Honan added he will continue to race his in-form pacer at whatever distance is asked of him in the major races.
"You race what's available. The longer it is, it undoubtedly helps. Two year-old races are usually a mile or anything up to ten-and-a-half furlongs and it will be a mile-and-a-half in the next major races."
Flighpath, only beaten once in five attempts at more than 2000 metres, has now reaped more than $270,000 in career prize money for Honan.
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