Seasoned campaigner Burghley Shard is in his sixth season of racing, and he broke through for his first metropolitan-class victory when he ended a 19-month drought and a losing sequence of 15 with his thrilling last-stride victory in the $21,000 Book Your Christmas Party Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He was an $8.40 chance from the inside of the back line, and he raced three back on the pegs while Gota Good Warhol ($23) was setting a solid pace, with Beach Captain ($20) in the breeze.
The Wand Waver, the $3 favourite, was eighth at the bell before sustaining a strong three-wide burst to get to the front with 300m to travel. Shannon Suvaljko got Burghley Shard off the pegs 550m from home and the seven-year-old gelding battled on doggedly to get up and snatch a last-stride head win over The Wand Waver.
“I was going to get off the pegs early, but they were going too quick, so I had to duck for cover again,” said Suvaljko. “I was lucky to get the right spot at the right time.
“Halfway down the straight I thought I had The Wand Waver, but she kept kicking and Burghley Shard didn’t want to find the line. So, I just coaxed him over the line just in time.”
The New Zealand-bred Burghley Shard is by Rocknroll Dance and is the fifth foal out of Christian Cullen mare All Time Glory, whose first foal Cracka Star raced 105 times for eleven wins, 24 placings and $126,383. Suvaljko drove Cracka Star to the first of his two metro-class wins at Gloucester Park in August 2018.
Burghley Shard is trained by Craig Hynam, and he is a veteran of 116 starts which have produced twelve wins, 24 placings and stakes of $117,539.
Earlier in the Friday night’s program 19-year-old Abbey Vidovich rated $3 chance Goodtime Louis perfectly in the breeze outside the frontrunning $2.70 favourite Star Lilly before sending the Bob Mellsop-trained four-year-old to the front in the final 50m to win by a half-length from the strong-finishing Fly To The Finish ($9), with a Star Lilly a head back in third place.
Vidovich, who began driving late last year, is in sixth spot in the State’s drivers’ premiership table with 76 winners and is the leader in the competition for concession drivers, four ahead of Joey Suvaljko.
Vidovich kept up the good work at Narrogin on Saturday night when she landed a double with Eye Better ($7.70) and Douseeme ($3) on a seven-event program dominated by female drivers, with Emily Suvaljko winning twice and Lauren Harper and Jocelyn Young also driving a winner.
Champion reinsman Gary Hall jnr maintained his outstanding strike rate at Gloucester Park when he landed a treble with Sweet Coco, The Iron Duke and Princess Katie on Friday night.
