Racing: Merciless Delft slays opposition

Delft moved one of his giant strides closer to completing an Interdominion miracle at Alexandra Park last night.

The mammoth trotter was a forgotten two-win battler just three months ago, having spent the last year of his life as a failure in North America.

But the TLC of Waiuku's Michelle Wallis has catapulted Delft into the ranks of favourites for the Interdominions which start at Alexandra Park four weeks today.

Delft has gone on a winning rampage since joining Wallis' beach training stable and before last night was considered one of the dangers to the favourites in the Interdominions.

Now, after one minute of destructive madness, he will be one of those favourites himself.

Delft faced his toughest task last night, starting off a 10m handicap against horses ranked higher in the Interdominions than him.

It mattered little.

After settling second-last early, he was given his head by driver Tony Herlihy at the 1200m mark and looped the field to lead inside 200m.

Then he got nasty.

Rather than settle kindly he got extremely fired up and was eight lengths clear down the back straight, leaving some of New Zealand's best trotters struggling to keep him in sight.

At the 400m mark it was only a matter of how much he was going to win by, that margin being narrowed late by his own stablemate Paris Metro, who closed sharply nearing the line for second, ahead of Rosscoe.

But to win even after over-racing so fiercely in the middle stages of a race is almost unheard of in this grade of racing and even left Herlihy with a wry smile.

"He was pretty fired up so I decided to go along for the ride," he said.

"Once he got to the lead he wouldn't settle and usually with a horse at this level that would be a huge concern.

"But he is trotting so good he can overcome that.

"He just gets better every time he goes on the track."

Delft is unlikely to race again before the Interdominions where he is now a serious danger to champions Lyell Creek and Take A Moment.

His winning run continues a remarkable season for Wallis, who until six weeks ago had never had a horse in a group one race but now has two genuine Interdominion hopes.

Her beach training methods, for so long wasted on slow horses, have caught the attention of leading trainers and she can barely believe the ride she finds herself on.

"It is amazing and I am loving it," said Wallis, who also won a race last night with an unknown battler from her stable, Gone With The Wind.

"We are loving it and can't wait for the Interdominions,"she said.

Delft's victory also continued a stunning night for Herlihy.

New Zealand's greatest driver reined four of the first six winners on the card.

* Later in the night Auckland Cup hero Elsu sent a shiver down rival trainers' spines with a crushing win in the main pacing race.

The millionaire pacer was asked to chase hard from his 20m back mark as Bobs Blue Boy off the front set a near-national record pace.

But when driver David Butcher asked Elsu to improve the five-year-old cruised around the field to sit parked before outmuscling the leader, with Winforu running on well for third.

Elsu's time of 3:21.2 was less than a second outside the long-held national 2700m standing start record and left little doubt over his readiness for the A$450,000 Hunter Cup at Moonee Valley in Melbourne next Saturday.

It also confirmed Butcher's comments that Elsu was back to his awesome best after racing below his peak since his Miracle Mile failure in November.

"He felt terrific tonight and that should get him spot on for the Hunter Cup," said Butcher.

Elsu faces a 20m handicap in next Saturday's cup, a race which has historically been a graveyard for backmarkers.