ROSS McDONALD told listeners through a Melbourne radio station that they could safely have their house on Weekend Hussler winning yesterday's $500,000 Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington.
Just hours later his rather bold prediction came true when the newly crowned Australian Horse of the Year comprehensively beat some of the best weight-for-age horses in Australia.
After returning to racing with one defeat and one victory, McDonald pleaded with the racing public not to despair because the four-year-old had encountered a setback (a hoof abscess) that impeded his training preparation.
When asked why Weekend Hussler sprinted better yesterday than he did in his two previous starts, McDonald replied: "Well, for one thing he spent one week pretty sore so it's hard to show your best under those conditions.
"This week he had a trouble-free run and his work on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning showed that Weekend Hussler was back to his very best.
"We'll keep pushing on now, but he's going to be something to beat in the next few months."
The celebration of Weekend Hussler's supporters was in stark contrast to those connected to his main rival Light Fantastic.
The grey four-year old suffered his first racecourse defeat when he failed to run a place behind his main foe.
To make matters worse, trainer Mick Price and jockey Craig Newitt were at a total loss to explain his performance.
"I don't know really what to say," Price said. "I can't put my finger on it. He just didn't fire. I'm looking for what went wrong but as yet I can't find it."
Light Fantastic travelled behind Weekend Hussler, with Brad Rawiller aboard, and with 500 metres to run the pair seemed set to stage another epic duel.
But the grey was soon struggling and seemed to race like a tired horse as he got to the post.
"Perhaps when they slowed the tempo between the 900 and the 500 it didn't do much for him, but you couldn't put that down as an excuse," Price said.
"I'm just not sure what happened to that bit of dash."
Weekend Hussler dominated betting, starting at $1.85 favourite, and defeated South Australian Derby winner Zarita ($21) by 2½ lengths, and Littorio ($101) was 2¾ lengths away in third place.
"I thought she could run third behind the two good four-year-olds, but to run second and finish like she did was absolutely fantastic," Zarita's trainer Pat Hyland said.
"She's in superb order and we're in for a pretty exciting spring.
"The Caulfield Cup is the race we're after and after today no one could argue about that.
The other outstanding performance was that of Littorio, which came from well back to finish third and gave every indication he is in for a huge spring carnival.
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