After 755m of hard out chasing action, there was just a half-length difference in time between the two Adept Accountants Wanganui Distance heat winners from last Friday evening.

Pictured: Teemaria last year’s Wanganui Distance winner

It sure is an interesting field for Friday’s Group 1 $21,000 decider as aside from the stylish pair of heat winners, there’s a mixture of youth, plus hardened, vastly experienced stayers who will contest the event.

The recent Aussie imported stayer confirmed her strong staying form from across the Ditch when she produced a powerful finish which saw the Angela Turnwald prepared stayer cutting clear for her convincing 44.77s heat win by a 7.25 length margin.

Catching the eye via his strong finish from an earlier rear (and wide) field position was the Arch Lawrence trained Augello. It was a stylish display by this younger half-brother to his more illustrious staying kennel mates Shandell and Teemaria when he arrived home holding a two length buffer over another Cambridge mentored stayer Tron Bradman.

His effort provides his conditioners Peter Fergusson and Greg Hore with another Group 1 finalist, but probably more significant about his third placing was him finishing half a length in front of Shandell, who found herself being jostled on several occasions when trying to get around another opponent for Lawrence. The worst of her buffering came when rounding the final turn. Cawbourne Eski will take the first possie on the reserves bench for Matt Roberts after he was the next to arrive home in this heat.

The inform Karen Walsh trained stayer Thrilling Flo was expected to dominate the second heat which she duly proceeded to do when she dictated terms throughout after jumping from the eight trap for her easy 44.80s heat win.

Cawbourne Buckle backed up her sound prior Cambridge 650m win by gamely chasing after the pace-setter for Roberts. She boldly stuck to her task when winding up 5.25 lengths behind her. She held a decent three margin over the third placed Lawrence prepared Teemaria, with last year’s winner hinting that she’s making a welcome return to form via her bold heat third placing.

Phantom Way pressed on stoutly for her fourth placing for her trainers Pippa Lammas and Carol Morris when she was just a further three-quarters of a length behind to book her final field position. The fifth-placed Goldstar Dallas will occupy the second position on the bench for Steve and Bonnie Evans.
 

Adept Accountants Wanganui Distance Group 1 finalists from left: Thrilling Flo, Tranquil Blossom, Shandell, who is pictured here after winning this race two years ago

By Peter Fenemor