EVERGREEN pacer Motu Crusader delivered another stellar performance to win the $10,000 Golden Mile (1680m) at the UBET Racing Centre Launceston on Sunday night.
With champion reinsman Gareth Rattray aboard, Motu Crusader enjoyed a cost run in the one-out-two back position while his main dander Something Eyre was forced to face the breeze outside of the leader Run Ripalong.
When Rattray eased Moto Crusader three-wide to start his run at the bell the eight-year-old edged his way to the leaders and when Rattray called on his horse for the big effort he stormed past Something Eyre and went on to defeat that horse comfortably.
“He was going to win the race a long way from home,” Rattray said.
“When he settled where he did and our only real danger was parked outside the leader, I couldn’t have been happier,” he said.
Moto Crusader went into the race on the back of another impressive win with this latest victory his fifth with Rattray in the sulky.
Rattray’s biggest win aboard Motu Crusader was in the 2013 Tasmania Cup in Hobart.
“At his best he’s just too good for the local horses here in Tassie.”
“And this win is what we should have expected because he is an M9 horse going around against M0 and M1s,” he said.
Motu Crusader has started 75 times for 25 wins and 21 minor placings for $344,273 in stakes.