Blair’s yells go unheard at the start and finishing cheers can’t quite get the champ up

Hundreds of cheering racegoers tried to set The ‘Go Copy That’ party alight at Alexandra Park tonight but the only yells that really mattered went unheard seconds before the start of the Lincoln Farms Franklin Cup.

Young and old alike cheered and waved the club’s specially printed ‘Go Copy That’ posters as the little champ answered driver Blair Orange’s urgings in the dying stages, seemingly holding off the late charge by Alta Wiseguy.

The pair went across the line locked together but no sooner had the New Year’s Eve revellers, including Copy That’s owners Merv and Meg Butterworth, taken heart from commentator Aaron White’s call: ‘I think he’s got it a nose’ the photo finish revealed otherwise.

Alta Wiseguy, outer, spoils the “Go Copy That’ party.And all of a sudden an unfortunate glitch a split second before the start of the last harness race of the year loomed large in the post-mortem.

When Orange found himself almost breasting the 30 metre tape, as the horses were moving into line, he yelled out to starter Frank Phelan to try to abort the start.

“I was just on the barrier, getting too close to it, and was yelling out to Frank to hang on.

“I had to ask the horse to stand still, and he just paused for half a second when the tape went.”

Phelan later said he didn’t hear Orange’s call - “I was waiting for the front ones to come up because I knew Blair was ready.”

Copy That takes two steps backwards and rears slightly as the Franklin Cup tapes are released.The upshot was that when the tape dropped, Copy That took two steps backwards and by the time he hit stride he had added another 10 metres to his handicap.

It wasn’t long before that little mistake was exploited as first Alta Wiseguy, then Kango led at a blistering pace.

“They ran like cut cats early,” Orange said. “They were really burning.”

With two laps to run, Copy That is 50 metres behind leader Kango.By the time Copy That turned into the home straight with two laps to run, he was 50 metres behind the leader.

“I had to really ask him to catch the field,” Orange said. “We just had to run too fast and you can’t run 29 quarters that early.”

It wasn’t until 1300 metres from home that Copy That really tacked onto the back of Hot And Treacherous, third in the running, but at that stage Orange was happy enough with how the horse felt.

And when they ran only 29.6 down the back straight, Orange was able to give his horse a much needed breather.

Orange waited in the hope he could flush out Tony Herlihy on Hot And Treacherous but was forced to take off and was momentarily pushed three wide when making his run.

The crowd cheered his fast dash forward and again erupted turning for home when he shot clear of Kango, with Alta Wiseguy left to make up a two length leeway.

“I knew the other one was getting close and my horse really tried to the line. I wasn’t sure if I’d won and even though he lost out by a nose it was a super run.”

Owner Merv Butterworth and driver Blair Orange discuss the merits of Copy That’s huge effort.Copy That’s corrected time for the 2700 metres was 3:18.1, just nine tenths of a second outside the one-time national record set at Auckland by Triple Eight, a former stablemate of Alta Wiseguy.

Though Copy That now holds the 2700 metre record of 3:16 set at Cambridge in October, his effort was still full of merit.

Trainer Ray Green described the effort as “a good tough run.”

“He had it won ’til the last stride and you’d have to say it was his best run in defeat.”

Merv Butterworth said given the ground Copy That had to make up you could not be disappointed.

Meg Butterworth said the run showed just what a big heart the horse had.

“Seeing all those kids waving ‘Go Copy That’ signs made the race a success,” she said.

The Franklin Cup, reduced from the advertised stake of $50,000 to $42,375, saw Alta Wiseguy take home $27,500 and Copy That $7750, boosting his bankroll to $1,402,401.

Copy That is now booked to fly to Melbourne on January 11 with his first assignment the A$150,000 Ballarat Cup (2710m) on January 21.