That is the expression the race caller used at Melton Park on Saturday night as the Graham Bullock owned and bred mare Red Hot Tooth very nearly snatched victory from Tornado Valley in the Great Southern Star.

The Meadow Flat owner-breeder watched on as his $15.90 chance charged down the sprint lane after turning for home in the Group 1, $250,000 feature.

It was a bold effort, so while Red Hot Tooth missed out by a short half head, Bullock found it hard to be disappointed.

"It could have been a little bit better, but it was pretty good," he said.

"It was by a lip, a mosquito bite the commentator called it.

"It was obvious to see the other horse was in front coming down the straight, but she was making up ground. She was sort of inching away to almost sort of the front, then right on the line she just didn't quite get there.

"One stride past the line she had her head in front, so it was a matter of millimetres."

It was not the only gripping finish to a Group 1 race involving a Bathurst district runner of the evening either.

Just under an hour after Red Hot Tooth finished a narrow runner-up, the Chris Frisby trained, Anthony Frisby driven Our Uncle Sam ($7.50) came within a half-head of winning the $500,000 AG Hunter Cup (2,760 metres).

From his barrier eight draw, Anthony Frisby found a sit on the back of early leader King Of Swing ($7.80).

There he sat until they hit the top of the home straight, Frisby then pulling him out of the trail to make a charge on the outside of King Of Swing.

There was over a length between them with 100m to go and while Our Uncle Sam kept coming, King Of Swing held on. The final sectional was covered in a blistering 26.9 seconds for a 1:55.4 winning mile rate.

"The two Bathurst horses really did terrific," Bullock said.

Just as Our Uncle Sam showed his class against quality rivals, so too did Red Hot Tooth. In fact the Yankee Paco x Karaka Tooth mare faced even stiffer competition than Team Frisby's stable star.

"Some of the experts down there said it was the best field of trotters ever assembled in Australia and New Zealand and to just miss out by millimetres in that class of field is just terrific," Bullock said.

Trained by Kari Males and driven by Kerryn Manning, Red Hot Tooth was chasing the 12^th Group victory of her career and looking to improve on her fourth placing in last year's edition of the Great Southern Star.

While she had not saluted in just over a year, Red Hot Tooth had run a string of placings in feature races and was in good touch.

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Manning settled Red Hot Tooth in the trail in 2,760m feature before launching her down the sprint lane. Andy Gath's Tornado Valley ($3.50) only just held on.

"She's been a wonderful mare. She started racing as a two-year-old and she's raced every season and she's still as competitive now as she was in her heyday," Bullock said.

In fact, when Bullock was asked if he actually thought seven-year-old Red Hot Tooth's heyday was behind her corrected himself and said "No I don't think so."

"Her trainer Kari said to me that she thinks she is going as well as she has ever gone. Trotters can keep going a bit longer than the pacers," he said.

"It's just icing on the cake when you breed them, it gives you an extra thrill, and we bred the mother as well. So we bred the mother, we bred the foal, it's still all very exciting.

"She's proved herself against the best last [Saturday] night, so you've just got to keep your fingers crossed."

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