IT'S not the shortest of trips in the summer heat, so when Ben Settree took Kanena Provlima to contest the Junee Pacers Cup it was with nothing but a win in mind.
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It meant the The Lagoon trainer was "ecstatic" when his five-year-old gelding delivered in the Monday night feature.
Kanena Provlima faced the breeze for a good portion of the 2,170 metres trip and after taking the lead with just under 500m to go, had to hold off a challenge from $3 favourite Nowhere Creek.
"I am very, very happy, he went super. He did all the hard work, he went there and sat parked. Everyone had their chance to beat him, but fortunately for us he was just too good," Settree said.
"Junee is an uphill track on the home straight, I've never seen a track like it ... it's a significant hill in the home straight, so to get home in 28.2 was a phenomenal effort on the back of a long race.
"We didn't go there to run second, I thought he had it in him."
Having won the Gilgandra Pacing Cup in November last year, Settree was keen to see Kanena Provlima add another to his record.
He placed second in his heat by a half head to qualify for the Junee Cup final, where the five-year-old started as the $4.40 second elect.
Settree said they made sure they "crossed all the boxes to give him every possible chance" by travelling to Junee the previous day so Kanena Provlima would have time to refresh after a hot commute.
We didn't go there to run second, I thought he had it in him.
- Trainer Ben Settree
Driver Blake Micallef then did a top job in the gig. He did not use Kanena Provlima out of the gate given his barrier 10 draw, but when the early pace backed off was quick to take advantage, guiding the gelding into the death seat.
With 600m to go he was eyeballing early leader Are Doubleyou and Kanena Provlima kept going. Though Nowhere Creek came from the rear to mount a strong challenge, Settree's gelding fought him off to win by 4.9m.
The trainer praise both Micallef's efforts in the gig and his stablehand Nathan Goulding for helping qualify his gelding.
"Blake drove him absolutely perfect, I couldn't have been more impressed with the way that he drove him. As such, the results were in our favour," Settree said.
"Full credit to Nathan too, he took him down the week before and got him qualified. I was just fortunate to go down Monday night with him and accept the trophy."
Though a partial blackout following the running of the cup meant Settree's other hope for the evening, So Am I, did not get a chance to contest one of the memorial races, the trainer still enjoyed the Carnival of Cups meeting.
"It's a hell of a thrill to go to those small country town races where the locals give so much support. I think it's important that Harness Racing New South Wales continues to give the support that they do give those clubs," he said.
"The sport is only as strong as the grassroots level, so we need to foster that, continue to support that and foster people.
"Junee was one of the strongest harness centres in years gone by, it used to be a Mecca of harness racing."
