Hillview Bondi Makes It Three In A Row With RWWA Feature at Bunbury
Hillview Bondi taking out the $10,250 RWWA Feature at Bunbury. Photo Credit: Photography by Jodie Hallows
What a day out it was for Kyle Symington and Aiden De Campo, with both drivers rounding out the Bunbury program with a driving treble on the card on Friday for the daytime meet. With nine races on offer, it was a good day out for Ryan Bell with a training double, continuing the stables good form, as well as a training double for Aiden De Campo.
WA stallion Fly Like An Eagle sired another winner, with Ekara Navajo winning on debut for trainer/driver Dean Miller. Going into the race with three trials beside her name, the two-year-old filly led all the way in the opener, recording a winning mile rate of 2:01: over the 2100m trip. Bred and owned by the family behind Navajo Pacing, part owner and breeder Ken Davies confirming he would celebrate the win with a can of coke after work.
At $18 odds, Coolup Kid kicked his maiden status in race two on the card for Collie based trainer Leo Wallrodt, giving Kyle Symington his first win on the board for the day. With almost a year off in the paddock to grow, he made the move to Wallrodt’s stable and at just his second start he broke through for the win in 2:02:3 over the 2100m.
Justin Prentice was back in the cart on Friday on board his runners at Bunbury, with the $2.40 favourite Caribbean Lily NZ coming from well back in the field, making her run three wide with around 600m to go, claiming the win in race three in 1:56:0 over the 1609m sprint trip.
Symington, who has been in a purple patch of form of late, partnered the Ryan Bell trained Hillview Bondi in race five, with the four-year-old coming from behind to beat the favourite by 1.9m in the RWWA Colts and Gelding feature in 1:57:1, giving the gelding his third win in a row and fourth win this season. Overcoming barrier 11 over the 210m journey, Hillview Bondi proved too good when he was able to work his way to the breeze, settling outside the leader and coming home with top prize, giving Symington his second win on the day.
In race 8 Bell and Symington teamed up again, this time with Sound Wave who’s been racing in consistent form, only failing to salute the judge once in his last five starts. Starting from barrier seven, the four-year-old did most of his work late, sitting out three wide for the final 1100m and fighting it out in the finish with Symington and Sound Wave coming out on top over Aiden De Campo and his horse Major Corrida by 1.5m.
The first of De Campo’s treble came up in race four with his runner Gods Plan getting the cash. The $2.35 favourite started from barrier six and after settling mid field over the 2100m trip, and with De Campo the first to make a move three wide with a lap to go, Gods Plan was too good for his rivals, winning by 2.2m in 1:58:5.
It was looking a little hairy for favourite punters in the standing start, but Seeryanfly was able to overcome the 50m handicap and a slight indiscretion at release point to take out race six for Dylan Egerton-Green and Aiden De Campo. With De Campo declaring on The Trots WA pre-race twitter interviews that he had better hands than Egerton-Green and confident he could step Seeryanfly better than his trainer, he would have been feeling the pressure at start time, but after getting the four-year-old back down and pacing and settling towards the rear, he was able to come around to gain the lead, going on to win by 3m in 2:03:0 over the 2503m journey.
Last start winner Pradason continued on his winning ways, taking out race seven on the card for trainer/driver Aiden De Campo, giving the 30-year-old his third winner in the cart for the day. With a narrow victory for connections, the five-year-old went forward at release point, finding himself briefly in the breeze before spending the majority of the race in the one-out-one-back position, and with just over 400m to go, De Campo angled him three wide, going on to win by a head in 1:56:2 over the 2100m.
Pocketfulofpepper made it two in a row since joining the stables of Michael Young Pacing. With 100% strike rate for runs this season, the striking grey gelding led all the way in the last on the card over the 2100m to win by a half head in 2:00:1 for driver Joseph Suvaljko.
Ashleigh Paikos