Another clean sweep

CHAMPION horsewoman Emma Stewart transferred her recent Vicbred Super Series dominance to last Saturday night's Victoria Derby heats.

Making the futurity her own pet project in recent years, Stewart took her Vicbred stranglehold to another level in September by becoming the first training to win all six pacing Finals across the two, three and four-year-old categories.

As for her latest clean sweep, Stewart's stellar crop of colts and geldings not only won both heats, they filled the trifectas in each qualifier!

Overall, Stewart will be represented by seven runners of the 12 runners in this weekend's $200,000 Final in Melton.

"We have a pretty strong crop of three-year-olds and it was terrific to see them get the job done in the heats," Stewart said. "It was particularly pleasing to gain such a great result for our owners.

"Having a Derby runner is one of the sport's biggest goals, so to qualify so many for the Derby is great."

Driven by Jackie Barker, Miki To Success kick-started proceedings by accounting for his stablemates Some American and Kingman in the first heat.

After enjoying the ideal one-one trip, Miki To Success rated 1:55.7 over 2760 metres, with his time 1.9 seconds quicker than Best Deal in the following heat.

With Mark Pitt holding the reins, Best Deal scored from Bay Of Biscay and No Notthebuttons.

"The draw in the Final is going to be extremely important," Stewart said. "Only a couple of metres separated the first three in the first heat and it was a half-neck between Best Deal and Bay Of Biscay, which shows there isn't much between them."