Robbie and Southern Lights look set to battle out the group 2 Far South Challenge at Forbury Park in two weeks' time despite winning their heats yesterday in vastly different styles.
The top four from each heat at Forbury Park yesterday qualified for the 545m final on December 22, and Robbie ensured his spot in the $13,000 final was safe less than halfway through yesterday's first heat.
Black Crow showed the most speed from box 1 but Robbie, trained by master preparer Ray Adcock, took over as the field left the back straight and sustained a strong gallop to win by three-quarters of a length.
Know Scholar worked hard on the outside of Black Crow and Trust Issues, never getting down to the rail during his sustained run for second, while Trust Issues (third) was comfortably clear of Black Crow in fourth.
The second heat lost some of its lustre with the scratching of Dream Collector and punters unfamiliar with the racing pattern of heat favourite Southern Lights would have been looking for the nearest rubbish bin after the first 100m of the second heat.
The Lochinvar Marlow dog was last out of the boxes and covered considerably extra ground around the first bend as Mystic Action led the field in to the back straight.
However, Southern Lights showed freakish speed and track sense to weave his way to the front as the field approached the home bend, going on to win by 4 lengths.
Ambilight ran on well for second, with Know Danger (third) and Mystic Action (fourth) rounding out the qualifiers for the group 2 feature.
