Tornado Valley wins eighth Group One

He had to wait 48 hours longer than expected, but Australasia’s best trotter Tornado Valley has snared his eighth Group 1 win.

Huge storms forced the postponement of Saturday night’s Melton card to last night (Monday), including the $50,000 Group 1 Knight Pistol Trot.

And, despite a back row draw and again doing all the work in the race, Tornado Valley found a way to win again.

“He knows where the line is and he makes me look so good,” driver Kate Gath said.

Tornado Valley worked around the field mid-race to sit parked and fended-off big late challenges from Wobelee and Temporale to win by a half-head in a 1min57.9sec mile rate for 2240m.

“You’ve just got to love him. He’s been such a fantastic horse for us,” trainer Andy Gath said.

Former star juvenile Wobelee showed he was very close to landing his first open-class major with a slashing run for second, earning high praise from Kate Gath.

“He’s going places. He could be the next Tornado Valley,” she said.

Temporale was shuffled back to the rear and stormed home too late to get within in 1.9m and continuing his fantastic form.

The other Kiwi in the race, Massive Metro, must have had an issue. He worked a lot mid-race, but they dropped in behind the lead before stopping badly and finishing last, beaten 66.5m.