Jockey Tim Bell has completed an impressive day’s riding at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm this afternoon, adding the card-ending Group 2 QTC Cup (1300m) on board Sacred Star to victories in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas and Group 1 Queensland Oaks.

Jumping from the gates well, Sacred Star took up ideal position on the heels of early leaders Belltone, Hot Snitzel and Alma’s Fury, who set a notably quick tempo over the back straight and rounding the bend.

Finding the final straight in ideal position, the Flying Spur gelding comfortably took up the pace and found the lead, maintaining a strong sprint to the line to finish ahead of Masthead and Bennetta.

Kiwi trainer Tony Pike was understandably happy with Sacred Star’s performance in the QTC Cup and confirmed they will remain in Australia to contest next weekend’s featured Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m).

“It was just good to get this out of the way today, that will take a bit of freshness out of him,”

“He probably travelled a bit keen early and got a bit closer in the run than he normally does and although they didn’t go away from him, he does have a tendency to get there and think the jobs done and just knock off a bit.

“The faster they go and the harder he has to hit the line, the later he gets there the better he is.

“We’ll probably roll the dice as long as he pulls up well, in the Stradbroke, and that’s what we’re here for and we’ll see how we go.”

Bell arguably completed a career-best performance to date at Eagle Farm this afternoon, and was clearly chuffed to cap the day off in winning fashion.

“It feels pretty good but it hasn’t sunk in yet,”

“Even though that trial was very good, I was that confident on his form alone. Last time he got held up a bit and I know they don’t rate really highly the Group 1’s in New Zealand but they’re still Group 1’s.

“Today he just had such a lovely run in transit, a gem of a ride, probably was a little bit closer than anticipated, but when you draw a good gate and they bounce there, why drag them back.”

Gaining a ballot-free entry into next weekend’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap, Sacred Star has arguably completed an ideal lead-up to the 2014 Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival’s headline event.

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2014 QTC Cup Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	5	SACRED STAR	Tony Pike	Timothy Bell	4	54.5kg	$5.50EF
2	12	MASTHEAD	Chris Waller	Glen Boss	8	53kg	$7
3	7	BENNETTA	Grahame Begg	Kerrin McEvoy	5	53kg	$5.50EF
4	11	BLACK CASH	Kelly Doughty	Tegan Harrison (a)	10	53kg	$18
5	14	ARCHITECT	David J Lawlor	Andrew Spinks	13	53kg	$41
6	6	STEEL ZIP	Pat Duff	Mark Du Plessis	11	54.5kg	$61
7	4	ALMA’S FURY	Tony Gollan	Jim Byrne	6	56kg	$18
8	9	DOUBTFILLY	Stuart Kendrick	Larry Cassidy	1	53kg	$15
9	1	HOT SNITZEL	Gerald Ryan	Tye Angland	2	59kg	$6
10	13	MISHANI STEALTH	Les Ross	Craig Newitt	9	53kg	$21
11	8	LUCKY HUSSLER	Kent Fleming	Jason Taylor	7	53kg	$21
12	2	BELLTONE	Kelso Wood	Chris Munce	12	57.5kg	$19
13	3	DANCES ON STARS (NZ)	Gerald Ryan	Brenton Avdulla	3	56.5kg	$8