Cincinnati Kid's late-career resurgence continued tonight when the consistent eight-year-old took out the Sky Racing Free-For-All at Moonee Valley.
The under-rated son of In The Pocket added the $25,000 event to the Group 1 PETstock Ballarat Cup he won seven nights earlier when he finished over the top of his rivals in the 2100-metre event.
Mark Peace's stable star cashed in on a frantic tempo set by early leader Mister Grizzly and then Karlsruhe to sweep to a resounding 4.7-metre victory over Karlsruhe and $1.70 favourite Sammy Maguire in a 1:56.2 mile rate.
The final quarter was only 29.4 seconds, but the first and third quarters were 28.3 and 28.7 seconds respectively, which laid the foundations for the slick time, which was just eight-tenths of a second outside the track record.
Cincinnati Kid's win was one of the many highlights of the cracking support card at the final harness meeting ever run at Moonee Valley.
Earlier in the night Victoria's most consistent two and three-year-old of the past two seasons, Living On Fire, proved he has lost nothing as a four-year-old with a win in the $30,000 PETstock Four-Year-Old Bonanza.
Like Cincinnati Kid, the Bill Galea-trained warrior proved the bane of odds-on punters when he was too strong for Village Of Dreams and $1.60 favourite Mister Zion in the star-studded Group 3.
The tough gelding sat parked for the last lap, but still ground home the final 800m in 28.9 and 27.9-second splits for a 1:57.5 win.
Two races later, in the $20,000 Angelique Club Cup, well-backed favourite Mendelico kicked the BIG6 off in fine style for punters, winning arguably the most exciting race of the night.
After a flying lead time of 34.1 seconds, in which Lady Octavia and Very Chic sparred vigorously for early ascendancy, the speed never relented with big guns Broadway Play, Pacific Charm and Mendelico making their moves heading past the winning post the final time.
Ripping through the first half of the last mile in 60.7, Mendelico circled the field before booting clear on the home turn to hold off the fast-finishing Jazzam by a short head in a 57.6-second last half mile for a 1:56.8 mile rate.
Later, Cullen Bromac gave Debbie Quinlan a farewell victory when she outclassed her rivals in the $20,000 Swifts Signs Premiere Stakes.
The son of Christian Cullen, who realised $150,000 at last year's Auckland yearling sale, sat parked for most of the 1609-metre event but was still able to pull away from her rivals towards the end of 28.7-second final split in a 1:59.3 mile rate.
Brad BISHOP


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