WEDNESDAY night's Ballinger Transport Pace (1,730 metres) at Bathurst Paceway looked for all money to be a dead heat until the number four flashed up on the screen as the winner.
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That number belonged to Sonny Studleigh ($4), who had won by a matter of centimetres over favourite Bettor Jiggle ($1.40) thanks to a patient drive from Jake Davis.
Davis had spent the entire race tucked behind leader Bettor Jiggle in the hopes of finding space to make a winning charge.
Bettor Jiggle's driver Nathan Turnbull attempted to wave goodbye to the field on the turn for home and waited to see if anyone could answer the challenge.
The Leigh Davis-trained Sonny Studleigh was the only one to match the pace.
Sonny Studleigh pulled to the outside but his younger rival refused to be beaten easily, leading to a tense final 50 metres of racing.
The pair hit the line together with nothing between them but the photo finish gave Sonny Studleigh his 10th career victory, and his first of this season.
"I got the run that I wanted. He's really good with the sit," Jake Davis said of his seven-year-old.
"He just wasn't good enough last week but the week before that he probably should have won that race but he wasn't driven well by me.
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"He's down in grade a bit and he was going to win a race sooner or later.
"He's getting older and he takes a bit more looking after now. We'll see how he pulls up after this and we'll probably bring him here again next week."
Grecian Holiday ($41, John O'Shea) finished strongly to break away from the chasing pack and finish 4.5m behind the leading pair in third.
It was a much needed win for Sonny Studleigh who had placed five times since his previous win back in March of 2018.
The winning mile rate was 1:58.7.
In the night's top-graded Reliance Bank Pace (1,730m) Thunder Dance ($2.25 favourite, Lachie Manzelmann) continued his enviable streak of form for trainer Kerry McDowell with a win over Foureight (Mat Rue).