Desiderio Dominates In Wagin Cup
Desiderio taking out the 2022 Palace Hotel Wagin Cup for Wayne Justins and Shane Butterworth. Photo Credit- Photography by Jodie Hallows
Wagin is underway for another season, with their cup meeting kicking off last Thursday night, boasting a heavily supported 10 race card.
“It was a fantastic night of racing at Wagin’s Easter Thursday’s meeting. It started earlier in the week when Wagin had incredible nominations and was awarded 10 races on the night.”
“A big basket of Easter eggs was raffled on the night, and it was won by Kevin Charles, who earlier in the night donated money to the club for a worthy cause, it was picked up by wife Annette who said the grand children were to be the recipients, that was if she could find a safe hiding spot from Kevin.” Wagin Club President Kevin Spurr said.
“The feature race was of course the Palace Hotel Wagin Cup. The Palace Hotel have sponsored our cup meeting for many seasons now and it is greatly appreciated by the club.”
The $10,250 Palace Hotel Wagin Cup was the main feature of the night, with Desiderio leading from start to finish over the 2590m trip for trainer Wayne Justins and driver Shane Butterworth. Challenged soon after release point by Tubbs Farquhar, Butterworth wasn’t handing up under pressure and even though the five-year-old got strong at the front of the field, he managed to have plenty in reserve, going on to win by 21.1m in 2:03:8.
The Justins family took Desiderio on in mid-2021 and have had a total of 26 starts for four wins and eight placings, with the five-year-old double westbred by locally stood Advance Attack NZ racing in consistent form for the stable.
“I thought if things went right for us and that barrier, he could give it a good shake,”
“He wasn’t pulling as fiercely as it looked, I wasn’t concerned with him because he just looked to be traveling strongly.” Justins said.
The second feature of the night was the $7250 RWWA Westbred Feature for the colts and geldings, with it going the way of the well performed Hillview Bondi for Ryan Bell and Kyle Symington. After challenging for the lead in the early stages, the four-year-old had to work extremely hard in the breeze, but he proved to be the class of the race, managing to kick away from the field by 11m in 1:57:9 over the 2180m.
Three-year-old Little Darling made it two in a row when she notched up her third career win in the opening event, the RWWA Westbred Feature for the fillies and mares. Trained by Barry Howlett and reined by Chris Lewis, the $1.12 favourite was able to cross from barrier four and lead all the way over the 2180m trip in a mile rate of 1:59:9.
Only Five Starzzz made the long trip from Hopeland worthwhile for Kevin Charles, with the short-priced favourite leading all the way in race two over the 2180m distance, giving Shannon Suvaljko the winning steer. Managing to stave off the fast-finishing Step It Up on the line with a margin of just a head between them, the four-year-old brought up her fourth career victory, taking out the second on the card in 2:01:0.
Emily Suvaljko drove a double on the card, with Dynamite Dolly too good in the third for trainer Giles Inwood. The $2.15 favourite settled one out and two back throughout the 2180m journey, coming home to win by just a head on the line in 2:01:9.
Teaming up with Peter Tilbrook in race eight on board Caruba, Suvaljko lead all the way from barrier one to win comfortably by 9.7m in 1:58:0, breaking a 32-start losing sequence and an almost 15-month hiatus from the winner’s circle.
Hayden Reeves took a big team over to Wagin and wasn’t disappointed, with the stable bringing up a winning double on the night. Ark Of Rock held the lead from barrier one, and at just $2.00 starting odds, was able to win by 2.8m over the newest recruit to Matt Scott’s team, I Am Pink in 2:02:9.
With the standing start heavily represented by Reeves’ stable again, the 40-year-old managed to get the first four in race seven, with The Freelancer coming out on top for Hayden Hancock by a half neck over Rather Sentimental in 2:06:1. Starting off the 30m handicap over the 2540m journey, The Freelancer wasn’t overly clean out of the stand, but was able to catch the field easily enough to settle in the one-one position. How Gouda She took her usual spot of leading over the staying trip even after she started off the 40m line, holding on for third, with Camluck King claiming fourth position in the stand.
Double Westbred Northern Gaze took out the three-year-old event, giving his connections a further $4850 in bonuses. Making it two in a row, he was able to lead all the way from barrier one, and punters were happy to take the $1.32 on offer for the Corey Rogers trained runner, giving Kyle Symington his second win in the cart on the night.
End Of The Road broke through for her maiden win in the last on the card. By the now late Parsons Den USA, she would have to be one of his last progeny to hit the track, but at start 25 she got the win for Peter Swain and Chris Voak. The four-year-old has been knocking on the door of her first win for some time but after settling one-out-one-back over the 1776m sprint trip, she was able to run down the leaders to win by 15.5m in 2:00:5.
During the night, the Wagin Trotting Club were very proud to be able to donate $30,000 to the local Wagin Ambulance Sub Centre to put towards a new Ambulance for the community.
With the Wagin club big supporters of Westbred breeding, it was quite fitting that five of the ten winners on the night were double westbred horses, four westbred and only the one bred in Victoria.
Ashleigh Paikos