This weekend was always going to be a time to rejoice for David Thompson, he just had more to celebrate than Saturday night's 21st birthday party for niece Courtney.
David Hercules gave the Western Australian horseman added reason to party when he won Friday night's Sky Racing Vicbred Super Series 3YO Colts and Geldings Final at Melton's Tabcorp Park. The classy gelding upstaged $1.50 favourite Cuttheattitude in the $100,000 Group 1.
"We're here until Monday, we've got a family gathering tonight and we're super happy," Thompson said Saturday morning. "Everything's gone just great. He's been on top of his game in all his races and we had a bit of luck last night. We go to the trots plenty of time and don't have any luck, but last night we got some."
David Hercules took his record to nine wins from 24 starts when he made full use of a sensational Gavin Lang drive in the 2240-metre decider. The son of Artesian proved too sharp for his fellow semi final winner, who wasn't given an easy time of things early and didn't find the lead until 600m after the start. He then covered the opening two sections in 30.3 seconds and it was during a 28.7-second third quarter that Lang zoomed around to assume the spot outside Cuttheattitude.
That pair then cleared out and went stride for stride before the West Australian edged away in a 29.3sec final quarter. The $3.50 second elect rated a slippery 1:55.8 for a 2.1m win with Two Eye See ($18) more than 11m away in third spot, just in advance of Roche At La Plagne ($38).
"After the quick lead time I thought we'd get our chance to run him down," Thompson said. "I thought we could probably get him after the work he'd done."
Thompson paid tribute to his brother Peter, another niece Kate Gath and her husband Andy in the wake of the win. "Between Andy, Kate and my brother Peter and myself, we worked it out between us because I couldn't be here all the time," the trainer said. "They've been so good to us and the horse has thrived there."
David Hercules will now have a brief let-up at Chris Lang's Aldebaran Park before returning to Gath's Long Forest stable to be set for the Tabcorp Australasian Breeders Crown in August.
Courtesy of his win, David Hercules earned his breeder Steve Johnson a $7,500 Vicbred Breeders Bonus bringing the total Vicbred Breeder Bonuses earned by David Hercules this season to $16,500.
To view a list of the Vicbred Breeder Bonus earners, please click here.