The last heat of the Young Guns Series at the harness racing meeting at Alexandra Park tonight only had seven runners but it looked a very even race on paper with as many as five good chances.
The All Star duo of Pacing Major and More The Better had the form on the board down south but they had both been beaten on their first visit to Alexandra Park and there was the a question mark about them heading into tonight.
But as has become the norm for All Stars runners, as you get deeper into the season, the better they get.
More Than Better with Mark Purdon in the bike had an early burn for the lead but Vasari and David Butcher rebuffed that and held the lead with More The Better slotting into the trail.
Pacing Major with Natalie Rasmussen in the bike worked up to the death beside Vasari and applied pressure a long way out and going past the 400 metres it was obvious that the All Star Duo were the horses to beat.
Pacing Major went for broke as they straightened for home but More The Better came out onto his back on the corner and swept on by half way way up the straight for a decisive victory.
The All Stars duo streeted the rest with the highly rated Mongolian Hero eight lengths away in third and at first you felt the other runners had been a touch disappointing.
That was until they announced the times for the 1700 Metres mobile.
More The Better had run the journey in a blistering 2:00.4, a mile rate of 1:53.6 with closing sectionals of 56.2 and 28.2.
The time smashed the New Zealand record for 1700 metres for colts and geldings held by Fly Like An Eagle by a massive two point one seconds.
All season the All Stars juveniles had not looked as dominant as in previous seasons and rival trainers were holding out some hope that this might be the year when they beat them in some of the bigger races.
However the foreman for the All Stars barn Duane Marfisi has said all season that he thought this years crop from the All Star barn were as strong if not better than last years juveniles and tonights performance has confirmed that opinion in no uncertain fashion.
Next weeks $100,000 final of the Young Guns Series looks a match race between the All Stars duo and the draw will probably decide which of them comes out on top.
Harnesslink Media