The conditions were perfect for pacers and trotters to run good times, but not all horses were interested in complying.
There were late scratchings in the first heat - Sunny Demon tried to hurdle a fence - and the fourth heat - Mum Beat Lyall reared and fell on the track - but sanity was restored when Titan Banner got home nicely to beat Courage To Fly by three lengths in 2.49.6.
His trainer, Graeme Anderson, had the progressive 3yr-old nominated for Forbury Park tomorrow night and Winton on Saturday, but decided to tackle a c2 mobile pace at Forbury Park.
''It saves us going all the way down there,'' Anderson said.
''The net stakes are about the same once you count the travel in and all the owners getting down there so he can just come here.''
Anderson turned up the wick over the last lap, leading the field home from the 800m mark in 58.6sec.
The nominations for the New Zealand Derby close tomorrow, and Anderson will put the smartly-bred son forward for the race.
''He'll be there, hopefully - there's three months to go, but we'll see,'' he said.
Two races at Invercargill next month should give Anderson a good guide on where Titan Banner is at.
The same trial had Jonny Cox reassessing his and co-trainer Amber Hoffman's immediate plans with Beaudiene Cheekychic (3rd) and Franco Theron (4th).
''We had them in for Winton, but they maybe didn't go quite as good as I thought they should,'' Cox said.
''They probably went better two weeks ago than they did today. We'll just have a sit-down and think about whether they go or not.''
Bettordean looks likely to qualify at his next time of trying, which will probably be on Sunday at Roxburgh, his co-trainer, Geoff Knight, said.
The son of Mister Big missed out on qualifying by 1.2sec, but a slow early section of the race hindered the 3yr-old's chances of qualifying.
Southland Reflector might also be at the Roxburgh trials on Sunday, as his trainer-driver, Craig Buchan, looks for a suitable race in Central Otago over the holiday period.
Yesterday's trials are the last to be held by the New Zealand Trotting Owners Association (Otago branch) on a Monday. Trials and workouts will be held on Saturdays next year.
