He might have 'dawdled' early on, but when the harness racing four-year-old Hot Embers hit the top of the home straight at Dubbo on Sunday he was firing.
The John O'Shea, Bathurst trained four-year-old zipped away from his rivals in the Harness Racing New South Wales Rewards Series Final (2,120 metres) to post a commanding all the way win.
Hot Embers, with Amanda Turnbull in the gig, finished 10.7m clear of his nearest rival as he showed why he was the hot $1.45 favourite for the decider.
A week earlier in his heat at Parkes, the Courage Under For x Our Super Party four-year-old sat in the death seat before forging to the lead mid-way down the home straight. This time his win was assured earlier.
From barrier six Hot Embers punched on into the lead early in the decider, but once in front Turnbull eased off with the favourite.
Hot Embers was able to pinch splits of 32.9 and 30.8 seconds for the first two quarters of the last mile, yet he still led by a length over stablemate Jo Jo Zip on the bell.
Down the back straight for the final time Turnbull urged Hot Embers to up the tempo and he responded as the field strung out behind him.
He then found another gear at the top of the straight, clocking a 29.4 final sectional as he notched up the fourth win of his career in a 2:03.5 mile rate.
It was the 10th win of the season for O'Shea's stable and Turnbull's 138th winning drive in NSW for 2018-19.
By Anya Whitelaw