No Jewels for Sir Tiger - he’s coming home after being savaged in the Sires’ Stakes Final

Sir Tiger is on his way home and all his stablemates have been pulled out of the Harness Jewels after a brutal Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington.

And so dominant were the All Stars’ pair One Change and Flying Even Bettor in the feature race last Friday night, the Blue Army will have virtually no serious opposition when the Two-Year-Old Emerald is run at Addington in two weeks.

Lincoln Farms’ trainer Ray Green was hoping Sir Tiger might be able to latch onto the tails of the Purdon/Rasmussen monsters after drawing to get a suck along from the ace in the $156,000 Final.

But after dropping away to beat only one home, driver Ken Barron told Green the poor horse was scrambling to keep up with the supersonic speed the whole way.

Fellow northerner Eagle Watch, who hung on for seventh, was in the same boat.

“Todd (Mitchell) told me they were absolutely flying down the back straight and then, all of a sudden, they clicked into a faster gear.’’

The figures on the clock reflected what the drivers felt with One Change and Flying Even Bettor recording an unheard of mile rate of 1:53.4 for the 1980 metres, with only a nose separating them at the finish, the trip run in 2:19.6. Though the distance is relatively new it still annihilated the old national mark of 2:25.5 held by Spellbound.

To put that into perspective you need only to check out the national allcomers’ record of Cruz Bromac, who ran 2:18.5 when he beat Turn It Up and the country’s best cup class pacers in the New Zealand Free-for-all last November.

It is also nearly a second faster than Belle Of Montana’s fillies and mares’ record of 2:20.5 - and she’s a three-year-old.

The All Stars’ pair were nine and a half lengths clear of the third-placed Virgil, a stablemate, with Bad To The Bone another five lengths astern in fourth.

Ray Green … has withdrawn all Lincoln Farms qualifiers from the Two-year-old Emerald.Green says there’s no point in pressing on to the Jewels with Sir Tiger who was 30 lengths from the top pair at the line.

“You can’t make a case for staying down there. You get a bit of appearance money, if that’s what you want, but it hardly covers expenses, and it’s no good for the horse to be beaten up like that.

“He’s on his way back and will be home by Tuesday.’’

Green also withdrew Double Or Nothing, Line Up and Perfect Stride who were all in the top 12 for the Emerald. Double Or Nothing ran only fourth at Auckland on Friday night, Line Up is spelling and Perfect Stride is only in the early stages of a new prep.

The All Stars now have the top four qualifiers in One Change, Smooth Deal, Virgil and Flying Even Bettor and it seems no one wants to take them on. Eagle Watch, completely outclassed on Friday, is left fifth top qualifier.

The field has fallen away so much Zachary Butcher’s Zeuss Bromac, who ran second on debut last Friday night at Auckland, has made the top 12 - and he’s earned a paltry $2550.