TALENTED four-year-old pacer Quastor Centurion has been living in the shadow of his arch rival Beautide for some time but the Kent Rattray-trained gelding proved again last Sunday night that he is at least that horse’s equal.
With Ricky Duggan in the sulky, Quastor Centurion stepped brilliantly from the standing start and quickly made a mockery of his 10-metre handicap and with two laps to go he was in front and in cruise mode.
Beautide made a mess of the start by galloping soon after the tapes were released, which exaggerated his 20-metre handicap.
But driver Gareth Rattray settled Beautide in the one-out line near the rear of the field and made a move three-wide to be in the “death” and chasing hard at the bell.
Duggan upped the tempo slightly heading down the back stretch but Beautide’s driver Gareth Rattray was awake to then move and asked his charge to stretch out.
Quastor Centurion trued for home six metres clear and while Beautide took some ground of him over the concluding stages his run ended c lose to home.
Quastor Centurion hit the line almost four metres clear of Beautide with Beef City Beau edging out Queen Of Fire for third four metres astern.
Beautide have met four times this season and are equal with two wins apiece, although Quastor Centurion is ahead in the prizemoney department on their battles, having emerged triumphant over Beautide in the $30,000 Raider Stakes at Devonport in May.
Queen Of Fire settled last and her trainer-driver Zeke Slater latched onto the back of Beautide for a ride home in the three-wide line but she was unable to stick with the other two over the final 150 metres.
Beautide will head to Melbourne next week for a crack at a semi-final of the 4YO Breeders Crown series along with his stablemate, Delightful Christian that will tackle a two-year-old fillies’ division semi-final of the Breeders Crown series that culminates with finals in all divisions at Tabcorp Park Melton on August 19.