Barimah lands TKO punch in championship

Five year old gelding Barimah kept the Peacock stable flag flying high with a tenacious win in the Group Three Gordon Rothacker Memorial Championship Final at Melton.

The pacer, forced to do all the work in the breeze outside the leader, showed his never-say-die attributes with a tough victory.

Barimah responded well to vigorous driving by Damian Wilson to hold off multiple challengers over the final 80 stretch.

"That win would be up there among the toughest I've had - he certainly dug deep and responded when he had to," Tony said after the race.

"Barimah went 1:53.4 for the 1750 metres, which was just three-tenths of a second slower than Keayang Steamer posted in winning the Sokyola Sprint, so it was certainly a super win," he said.

"We thought he may have been in for a tough run from the number four alley and that proved to be the case."

Barimah is owned by Pooba Govender, the South Australian Cormack family and the Nicholsons from West Wyalong.

While the other Peacock stable runner at Melton, Irish Whisper finished out of a place in the Group Three Trotters Cup, it was always going to be a difficult assignment when he settled near the rear.

The leader and winner, the French trotter, Used To Me, sailed along out in front, and when Greg Sugars put his foot down with a 28.2 sec third quarter and a blistering 27.7 final quarter, it was going to be near-impossible for Irish Whisper to get into the action.

But the eight-year-old Murray Notman-owned gelding isn't putting a foot wrong and if he continues his good race manners, more nice wins are in store.