On Saturday night Ben Junior went within 0.8 of a second in breaking the 2030 Newcastle track record held by Lombo Pocket Watch and that win was enough to convince Wilson to take the gelding to Queensland on Saturday night for the 4Yr Old Championship at Albion Park.

Ben Junior has been given the visitor's draw this week and will start from outside the second row but Wilson is still confident the son of Live Or Die can win.

"He has everything this horse. He has tremendous speed and he showed that at Harold Park two starts ago and Saturday night proved how tough he is."

"Watching Saturday night's race, I gave him no chance of winning when I saw how fast they were going and he was just too good."

Ben Junior was bought by first time owners Daniel and Chris Vella after the gelding had started 28 times in New Zealand. As owners they are yet to taste defeat and a win in Saturday night's $40,000 feature would be Ben Junior's seventh win in succession. The four year old is currently assessed as a C6 pacer and Wilson is keen to see Ben Junior impress the NSW handicappers again.

"It's not going to be easy to get into the Chariots Of Fire qualifiers this year and he hasn't raced against metropolitan opposition yet so he needs to keep impressing the right people."

Wilson is hoping Rockets Reject will work his way into Chariots Of Fire contention too when he steps out at Penrith on Thursday. The son of Klingon Hanover has only started once for the Wilson stable and won comfortably and while the gelding hasn't been at the stable for very long, the trainer is very excited about him.

"He is tremendous. He has unbelievable speed."

"The owner sent Rockets Reject to me and wanted everything aimed towards the Chariots Of Fire."

There are two scheduled Chariots Of Fire qualifiers although the New South Wales Harness Racing Club will consider running a third if the interest and horses warrant it. The Hondo Grattan Stakes will be run at Harold Park on July 17 with the Paleface Adios Stakes set to be run a week later. At this stage, the first four horses in both races will make up the Chariots Of Fire eight horse field, with the race set down for July 31.

Draw unkind to NSW visitor

There will be plenty of New South Wales interest when boom two year old Two Eye See steps out at the new home of Victorian harness racing, Tabcorp Park on Sunday in the Vicbred semi finals but forgotten youngster Spencer Wallace will also fly the flag for his home state in the series for colts and geldings. The son of Modern Art has not raced since finishing fifth behind Renaissance Man at Menangle in a heat of the NSW Breeders Challenge less than a fortnight ago and trainer Darren Elder is happy with how the horse has been since.

"He's really good within himself and I think that run behind Renaissance Man was the best run of his career. He did all the work outside the favourite and there was less than four metres between him and Jenna McRae, the horse that finished second" Elder said.

Sunday's task has been made harder after the barrier draw was released with the gelding coming up with gate seven.

"One word describes how I feel when I saw the draw had been released, shattered. It's going to make the job of qualifying for the group one final that much tougher."

Spencer Wallace is no stranger to feature events having qualified for the Bathurst Gold Crown earlier in the season after scoring narrowly in his heat. The gelding finished fifth in the final beaten more than 30 metres but an ideal barrier draw in the Gold Crown surprisingly brought him undone when Elder made the decision to lead and was attacked.

"When we drew two in the Gold Crown final I thought it was best to use his speed and try and hold the front and they really made him work. I think we went 28.7 seconds for the first quarter. "

"The two horses that pressured us both finished behind us, so the run was ok in hindsight."

Sunday's event will be run over the distance of 2240 metres and while Spencer Wallace has only competed in races up to 2150 metres, Elder isn't worried by the extra journey.

"It really should be right up his alley."

"Some people might look at Newcastle when he raced over the 2030 metres and be concerned. He led and he got grabbed on the line but that was more about him relaxing too much when he got to the lead rather than him not running out the trip."

"He is tough, If I had my time over again in the Vicbred heat at Bendigo I would have moved to the outside of the leader with a lap to go rather than sitting behind on his back. "

Elder is full of praise for the new track at Melton having watched trials being run on the circuit last month.

"It is a fantastic set up at Tabcorp Park. I had to fly down to Melbourne when Spencer Wallace competed in his Vicbred heat and it just happened to be a day when they were trialling at Melton."

"I went and had a look around, sat down and had some lunch and I think the track is sensational."

Spencer Wallace will leave for Melbourne on Thursday morning with Elder flying in on Sunday to take the drive. The second semi final of the Vicbred Super Series is race nine on the ten event card with the event set to begin at 5:30pm.

Amber LOVELOCK