Scenic Shot is the Doomben Cup winner, claiming the Group 1 victory for the second time with jockey Shane Scriven
They jumped from the gates with The Hombre taking up the early speed but there wasn’t much of it at all, moving along at an absolute crawl for the first couple of furlongs.
That sparked a very brave move from Hugh Bowman on Glass Harmonium who shot out from the pack to go more than five lengths clear in the lead down the back straight.
When they went around the bend the lead had been cut and the field strung out across the course with runs for all the top chances.
The horse with the best run though was Scenic Shot , Scriven hugged the inside rail and they simply just moved out of his way with the shortcut putting the horse right in the prime position.
Glass Harmonium showed tremendous heart to keep battling on and My Kingdom Of Fife looked the winner for sure down the far outside.
With 100m to go though none of them had yielded with the pace quickening right to the line.
When they hit it the drive from Shane Scriven was what got Scenic Shot over the line just in front of My Kingdom Of Fife which would of won were he not forced to go wide on the turn.
Hugh Bowman could have some explaining to do on Glass Harmonium with his gamble not paying off, sheer guts alone enough to get the horse home in third.
Shootoff was fourth home with yet another disappointing run for the favourite Shoot Out after being hyped up all week.
This was an emotional win for Scriven who was telling anyone who would listen all week that he’d win the race and with a stewards appeal hearing on Monday, it could be the final of his career.
“This is not a horse, it’s a machine,” he said.
“He’s going better now than two years ago, he’s a champion this horse.
“He’ll go down in the record books now, god damn I love him.”
He can take so much of the credit too because without him in the saddle it’s highly questionable whether Scenic Shot would have prevailed.
“He [Glass Harmonium]took off over the back and I didn’t know whether to follow him or the favourite and then they just got out of my way,” he said.
Daniel Morton was riding him home all the way down the straight and the trainer couldn’t be happier with a horse that just keeps going and going.
“They opened up I couldn’t believe the run he got through it was fantastic,” he said.
“It’s a short straight but seemed a long way home to me.
“He’s a absolute evergreen, head towards the next couple and just see where it gets us.”
When asked about the prospects of a third Doomben Cup for Scenic Shot he was coy.
“Why not?”
From here the eight-year-old will continue through the rest of the Brisbane carnival and only he will decide when he’s had enough.
“If he’s fit and well we roll the dice and run in the Brisbane cup,” Morton said.
