Al shows he has ice in his veins as he gets Vasari up for a thrilling last stride win

Little more than a pencil line robbed trainer Al Barnes of one of his most memorable half hours at Albion Park in Brisbane tonight.

First Northview Hustler ran out of his skin fresh-up to go down in a very close photo finish to Leos Best, with Barnes’ son Brendan behind the horse for the first time.

And then Barnes himself drove Vasari the perfect race to land a last stride win in a thrilling four-way finish.

Barnes was praised by commentator Chris Barsby for his ice cold drive, which saw Vasari come with a withering late burst in the stretch to pip favourite Stompem, The Announcer and Offthetopofmyhead.

Al Barnes … not a bad driving display for an “old fat fella”But he was quick to switch the kudos to the horse himself.

“It’s not hard to steer the good ones,” he said. “Hayden told me how to drive him - it was exactly the same scenario as last week.

“I could have run down the back but I didn’t want to be five wide and thought I’d save him for the last couple of hundred metres.

“I was four wide from the 400 anyway and in the straight I thought I was going to come up short, but he really charged the last hundred metres.”

Barnes described the five-year-old as being “such a good old trier who is tough as nails” but passed on credit for his newfound form to former Pukekohe trainer Ray Green.

“His confidence is up and it’s because I followed Ray’s advice to train him like a thoroughbred. He said I just had to keep him on the lead so he was happy and fresh.”

Vasari has obviously responded as he now boasts a form line of 1211, with earnings in those last four starts of A$17,435.

Leos Best noses out Northview Hustler.Barnes was rapt with the fresh-up run of Lincoln Farms’ flag bearer Northview Hustler who was having his first run since the Blacks A Fake Championship on July 20 and was well in need of the hitout.

A catch drive for his younger son Brendan, with Hayden suspended, the Hustler unleashed his now trademark high speed burst turning for home and looked to have the measure of Leos Best, only to paddle the last few metres and lose out in a nose photo finish.

“But we knew that would happen,” said Barnes. “We would have been rapt if he’d run top four as we knew he was big, but good horses just find.”

The fact Hustler pulled up with a heart rate of 94 confirmed he was still a little way off full fitness.

“I thought his run was super - the last two sectionals were 27.9 and 27.7 - and he’ll take a lot of improvement out of it.

“Brendan was a little disappointed at not winning - he thought he’d got there - but he’ll go in the same grade next week and be a genuine $1.90 chance this time.”

Winner Leos Best was created with a time of 2:33.5 for the 2138 metres, a mile rate of 1:55.6.

There’s a narrow margin for Leos Best in the official photo finish.