Josh Julius experienced a rollercoaster of emotions at Bendigo on Wednesday — less than an hour after losing stable star Super Girl in the Bendigo Cup, the local trainer took out the $100,000 Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Series heat with Highclass Harry.
Super Girl went amiss going over the crossing the first time in the day’s feature. She received veterinary treatment on-course and was transported to the Bendigo Equine Hospital but could not be saved.
 “Highclass Harry lives next to the mare (Super Girl) at home and unfortunately he won’t be calling out to her tonight,” Julius said
“That just means the world. That is unbelievable … he’s been so consistent and tries his heart out and he’s done that for nobody else than Super Girl.”
Highclass Harry had already qualified for the $500,000 series final, having finished second in the Murtoa heat, and now heads to Flemington on Oaks day in winning form.
Fellow Bendigo galloper Tatunka (Bob Donat) finished third in Wednesday’s heat while Julius’s stablemate Just Folk closed late to finish fifth.
Highclass Harry has only finished outside the top two only once in nine starts for the stable.
My thoughts go out to Jim Middlemiss, who bred and owned Super Girl, and the entire Julius racing stable. The mare was impeccably managed throughout her career and had been embraced by the Bendigo racing fraternity, who will long remember her deeds.
Stranger salutes
For the seventh time in the past 11 years Shane Fliedner has found his way into the Bendigo Cup day winner’s circle and for the second consecutive year it has been first up with stable favourite Hi Stranger.
Beginning his campaign in the benchmark 78 over 1100 metres, the consistent son of Zoffany timed his run to perfection under William Pike to nail Blood Oath in the final bound.
“He’s only getting better with age, like most of the Zoffanys,” Fliedner said.
“We stuck to a sprint preparation on heavy tracks through winter but he’ll really shine over more distance.”
Hi Stranger might get an opportunity to build rapidly on his $264,700 in stakes earnings at the Gold Coast Magic Millions carnival in January.
While the traditional Fliedner after-party wasn’t a possibility on Wednesday, three of the stable’s owners were able to enjoy the win trackside.
Lachlan Chapman, who wrote this column last week, was on track, as were Hi Stranger’s breeders, Mario and Jen Cesnik, who remain in the ownership.
Fliedner’s second runner of the day, Surin Beach, finished a brave sixth. The stable has had four winners from seven runners over the past month.
Princess reigns
A thrilling edition of the $400,000 Group 3 Apiam Bendigo Cup (2400m) went down to the wire, with Princess Jenni denying Lloyd Williams a fourth cup as Pondus finished a head away in second. The Archie Alexander-trained Haky was two lengths away in third placing.
With Jye McNeil aboard, Princess Jenni ($19) registered the sixth win of her 19-start career and took her prizemoney bank to $976,035.
Ryker all the way
Bendigo six-year-old Danes Ryker has followed-up a strong first-up performance at Swan Hill with an all-the-way victory over the same 1600-metre course some 16 days later on Tuesday.
Off a 44-week break on October 11 he led and was grabbed late at odds of $41.
Jockey John Robertson applied similar tactics in Tuesday’s benchmark 58 and the Zoffany gelding, fitter for the first-up run, led all the way to score by 1¾ lengths.
Punters failed to latch on after the fresh effort, allowing Danes Ryker to drift from $13 to $20 on Tuesday.
“If he leads and is left alone in front he’s almost unbeaten over the mile,” trainer Aileen Vanderfeen said after the race.
Danes Ryker won twice over similar distances on the picnic circuit last spring.
“We had him ready to go to the picnics in March but it all got cancelled and he doesn’t handle wet tracks so he went out for the winter,” Vanderfeen said.
“We were confident last time and even though this was a harder class I believed in him.”
Having held a trainer’s ticket since the early 1990s, Vanderfeen is a hobby trainer who owns Danes Ryker in partnership with Craig and Stacey Kirkpatrick.
The horse won his maiden in 2017 for Anthony Freedman before a brief stint with Darren Weir, after which Vanderfeen picked him up for just $3000 at an Oaklands Junction sale. He’s won around $22,000 from 13 starts in her care.