IT'S been 12 years since The Lagoon's Ben Settree had two runners in the same Group 1 event, and he hopes this Wednesday's TAB Western Regional Championships Final ends in the same way for him that race did over a decade ago.
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Settree has fond memories of Emjayem Grand's 2008 Gold Crown success at the Bathurst Showground, which came on the back of a brilliant drive from Glenn McElhinney on the second row.
It will definitely take another superb drive and a little bit of luck for Dark Terror and Kanena Provlima - driven by Doug Hewitt and Anthony Frisby respectively - to take the spoils in this Wednesday's $100,000 finale.
"If there's historical value in that, the last time we had two Group 1 runners in the same race we won it," Settree said.
"Hopefully history can repeat itself."
Settree's runners come up against a very classy field in the final and he knows it's going to take something special if the pair are to spring an upset.
However, he's just thrilled to have doubled his presence in the big race.
"It's been a long term project to get into this race when it was the Million Dollar Pace, which due to COVID-19 has become the Regional Championship, and we're just ecstatic that we've been able to pull that plan off," he said.
"We're just going to need a bit of luck in the final."
Dark Terror and Kanena Provlima gave Settree a double dose of joy at last week's second round of heats.
Kanena Provlima built upon the previous round's narrow runner-up result to win convincingly in his second attempt, while Dark Terror battled away for a tough first up victory as race leader.
Dark Terror has drawn decently for the final in gate four but has plenty of speed to his inside, most notably from Bernie Hewitt's Make Mine Memphis.
Kanena Provlima has a challenging start from three wide on the back row.
"It's going to be difficult. Bernie's horse will be favourite, and deservedly so with the way he's been racing, and while there's no such thing as a certainty in racing he looks about as close to it as possible," Settree said.
"If they go hard or they make a mistake up front hopefully we're good enough to pounce and take advantage of the situation.
"They're both going to have to be driven for a bit of luck. They're going to need cover and hope they go hard and be attacking the line."
The Group 1 TAB Western Region Championships Final, over the 2,260 metres, goes out from 6.40pm at Bathurst Paceway.