RACE caller Craig Easey might have been joking when he said that Dr Susan's driver Jack Trainor was committing murder at the Bathurst Paceway, but he was dead serious when touting her as a potential Gold Bracelet favourite.
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Trained in New Zealand by Cran Dalgety and Nathan Purdon, Dr Susan is looking to add the Bathurst feature for three-year-old fillies to an already impressive season.
Since arriving in Australia from Christchurch in January, the Bettors Delight x Safedra filly has won five races and placed fourth and second in her other two starts.
The latest of her wins in Monday's opening 2,260 metres Gold Bracelet Heat came as a $1.04 favourite.
It booked her a spot in this Saturday night's $100,000 Group 1 Gold Bracelet Final.
No-one was close to her in the market - second elect Gee Gee Blinks was at $21 - and Dr Susan soon showed why.
After securing the lead from barrier five - Mustang Milly briefly challenged - Dr Susan cruised through the first half of the trip, following a 50 seconds lead time with splits of 32.5 and 30.7.
That's when Easey declared: "He's committing murder in front on Dr Susan [is] Jack Trainor."
With no-one keen to take on the favourite, Trainor upped the tempo down the back straight and kept at least a length on Dr Susan's rivals.
But at the top of the straight Dr Susan kicked and went to win by 13.1m over Tingiringi ($26), with Mustang Milly ($26) a half head back in third.
"Obviously her class shone through then. She was the very short priced favourite, she did what she had to do and ran some nice quarters," Trainor said.
The second heat was taken out by The Lagoon's Amanda Turnbull aboard the Emma Stewart trained Amelia Rose.
The Art Major x Bennies Daughter filly saluted as the $1.25 favourite to make it win number six of the carnival for Turnbull.
It was the fourth Stewart trained runner to qualify for one of the Bathurst carnival's Group 1 finals via a heat win.
While sitting one out and four back on the bell, Amelia Rose was too good when it came to the run home.
The Cardigan-trained filly won by 2.2m over Delightful Angel ($8) in a 2:00.1 mile rate.
"She's just so fast, she just goes straight past them," Turnbull enthused.
The final of the three Gold Bracelet heats was both the quickest and the closest as Vincenzina ($1.70 favourite) won by a neck over Michelle Lee Mac ($2.25) in a 1:58.3 mile rate.
Last year's Gold Tiara winner Michelle Lee Mac led for much of the trip and when Vincenzina, who had travelled one out and one back, attacked down the home straight she kicked.
While Vincenzina managed to nab the win for Londonderry trainer-driver Ross Adams, the pair will meet again on Saturday night what shapes to be a hotly contested final.
"She's a very nice filly," Adams said of his Betterthancheddar x Full Speed Betty filly.
"I thought I might have had her [Michelle Lee Mac] covered a bit easier, but she fought back well."
