Positive Return To WA For Peterson
Western Arterra won first up for his new trainer after moving to the stables of recently relocated Corey Peterson on Saturday night at Narrogin.
With nine horses in work, Peterson was approached by the owners who he met during his stint in NSW, asking if he would interested in taking the horse, and on Saturday night after drawing barrier five and a short tussle for the lead, the six-year-old was able to lead all the way in race five. Winning by a half head in a mile rate of 2:02:3 over the 2242m, the gelding brought up his seventh career win, taking his total stakes to over $59,000.
Peterson made the move back to WA last month and has built his team up, with nine currently in work, including Smooth Rye who he had great success with, including taking out the Gr3 Tanyia Harris Stakes in March 2022 at Menangle.
“She had a month off after arriving in WA and she’s had a few hopple runs and been really happy with her so probably look at trials in 3-4 weeks.” Peterson said.
With an 18-month spell between wins, Boston Rob returned to the winner’s circle in race one, with the four-year-old winning comfortably in a winning mile rate of 2:00:0 over the 1823m sprint trip for trainer/driver Brett Smith.
“He’s one of those horses that has a history of one small problem after another, no major setbacks as such. I got him late December as Garry Elliot was laid up at the time and it took me three months just to get him going around reasonably well. The owner, Brian Simeon needs a medal for his patience.” Smith said.
Jocelyn Young had a driving double on the night, with Cachinnation bringing up the first of her wins for trainer Debra Lewis. The $1.14 favourite led all the way from barrier 1, kicking away to win by 8.4m in 2:04:3 over 2242m distance.
Trainer/driver Kim Prentice led all the way in race three on the $1.16 favourite, Soho Dow Jones. The three-year-old was having just his third start in the state, bringing up his second win in three weeks. The lightly raced gelding has now had 13 starts for 6 wins and three placings, with Prentice confident that the horse has a future in WA. Owner Rob Watson made the decision to bring the horse to WA, with the thoughts that the aged races would be easier here than in Victoria.
The second of Youngs winners came up in the feature of the night, the Narrogin Observer RWWA Westbred Feature over the 2242m trip. With Rokorico lining up from barrier three, Young was unable to gain the lead, and after settling in the one-one position, Young peeled off three wide around 300m from home, going on to win by 2.7m in 2:00:5.
Hayden Reeves and Dylan Egerton-Green teamed up in race six with Silent Reaction coming out on top in the standing start, with Reeves preparing six of the eight runners, rewarded with the trifecta in that race. Starting off the 40m handicap, the four-year-old brought up his fourth win in his last five starts, coming away to win by 4.6m over stablemate El Jessie and Batavia Blackhole in 2:04:3 over the 2636m journey.
My Ultimate Joe took out the penultimate at long odds, with the seven-year-old coming from behind to end a six-month hiatus from the winner’s circle for Graeme Waters and Joseph Suvaljko. In a mile rate of 2:04:1 over the 1823m sprint trip around Narrogin, coming from the rear of the field, Suvaljko made his run three wide with around 700m to go, going on to win by 1.6m.
The Reeves and Egerton-Green combination were back at it in the last on the card, with Batavia Reactor breaking through for his maiden win at age seven. The lightly raced horse has had just 13 career starts after an array of different issues, but Saturday night was his night, leading all the way to win by 1.6m in 2:04:8 over the 2242m distance.
Ashleigh Paikos