Like A Wildfire Photo by Stuart McCormick
FRESH from the biggest night of her career, champion harness trainer Emma Stewart has her sights set on Globe Derby.
Stewart not only scored an upset win with $81 shot Act Now in last Saturday night’s Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton, but also won the other two Group 1 pacing features of the night, the Victoria Derby and Oaks.
More remarkably, she snared the quinella in the Derby with Petracca beating Perfect Class and topped that by having the first five placegetters in the Oaks, won by Sweet Bella.
Stewart, a regular Globe Derby visitor for major races, is sending three pacers across in a quest to win the revamped $60,000 SA Pacing Cup on October 28.
Under the rules of the Cup, a horse needs to win a qualifying race or contest one of the SA Cup heats at Globe Derby on Friday night.
“We’re sending three across for the Cup,” Stewart said. “Beyond Delight, Like A Wildfire and Wheres The Gold are our hopes. We’ll also have a few others for the support features.
“We’ve got some good and loyal owners in SA and like to send across to support their racing when we can.”
A recent example of Stewart’s strong SA connection is the inaugural TAB Eureka winner Encipher, who is bred and owned by Kadina’s Tyson Linke.
The sparingly raced but brilliant Beyond Delight looks Stewart’s SA Cup headline act.
The winner of 11 races returned from a lengthy spell with a slashing second to Better Eclipse in the Group 2 Kilmore Cup on September 29.
In that race he beat home Act Now, who then stormed home to win the Victoria Cup.
Like A Wildfire boasts 24 wins, including a strong Horsham Cup last season, while Wheres The Gold won seven of his first eight starts for Stewart and caught the eye with a strong third at Melton at his latest run on September 23.
Stewart will be chasing her third SA Cup win, having won it with Shadow Sax in 2018 and Guaranteed in 2015. Both were driven by the late Gavin Lang.
Another top Victorian trainer, Andy Gath, has already qualified a Cup runner with the well-performed former Kiwi pacer Tango Tara winning the Kadina Pacing Cup on October 10.
Gath famously won the 2014 SA Cup with Caribbean Blaster in an epic battle with former champion pacer and four-time SA Cup hero Smoken Up.
* Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
