Aiden De Campo stole the show last night at Bunbury with a race trifecta in the $10,000 De Campo Memorial 2YO Fillies feature, with his runner Artistic Scribe taking top prize.
With three runners in the race, De Campo piloted the winner, owned by Mike Howie for her second career victory at just her fourth race start. His other runners Nowuseemerunnin driven by Dylan Egerton-Green and Sport Sport Sport driven by Mark Johnson took up the other podium positions, with both fillies having their first starts in the race.
“It’s a really special race for me to win and to trifecta it means a lot as it was my first trifecta as well.”
“It’s probably the race I most look forward to and want to win the most every season, I was able to do it once before but again last night, being able to train and drive the winner made it more special.”
“I always wonder if grandad would be proud of me looking down, so to win a race in his honour means more to me than any group one could.” De Campo said.
Captains Beachbabe was too strong in race one for Terry Ferguson and Emily Suvaljko with the three-year-old filly initially going back at release point, she then worked her way to the breeze after only a few hundred metres from barrier seven, managing to stave off fast finishing rivals by 1.3m, with a last half of 56.4 and a mile rate of 1:56:7.
“She (Captains Beachbabe) travelled really good in the run. I was confident she would run a good race especially after Justin’s horse was scratched. She went really good on Tuesday without knocking her about too much.” Suvaljko said.
Arocknbilly Rebel has been knocking on the door for his maiden win and after being the runner up five times in his nine race starts, the five-year-old got his win last night at start number ten for his breeder, owner and trainer John Guagliardo and driver Mark Reed. The $1.70 favourite started from barrier ten and
Sunshine Swift led all the way from barrier one for Coolup based Vic Bryers and reinsman Chris Lewis in race three, recording her first win at just start seven since entering Bryers stable, defeating her closest rival by 9.4m in a mile rate of 1:59:5 over the 2100m trip.
It wasn’t quite the Group One Derby success Prentice had the night before, but Bettor Get On It NZ kicked off the first leg of the quaddie with the short-priced favourite starting from the widest barrier on the back line to win stylishly in the fourth by 9.9m, in 1:57:9 steered by Gary Hall Jnr.
Michael Grantham walked away with a driving double on the night, with the first instalment Miss Boudica making it two in a row for the Michael Brennan stable in race five. The well performed three-year-old led all the way from gate one defeating The Embezzler by two metres in a time of 1:58:5 over the 2569m staying journey.
After a last start metropolitan placing, Medieval Man continued the successful weekend for trainer Michael Young with his win in the sixth, giving connections his second win in just three starts. Working his way to the lead early from the 30m handicap, the $2.00 favourite was able to get away with a slow first section, winning by a margin of 3.8m in 2:02:8 and a last half of 55.9. Young had city success on Friday night with his runner Vespa NZ getting his first metro win since entering WA earlier this year.
The second leg of Grantham’s driving double came up in race eight, the De Campo Memorial 2YO Colts and Gelding feature when he paired up with Ryan Bell and his runner Whataretheodds. The two-year-old was having just his fifth race start, managing to get his second career victory in a time of 1:55:5 and a last half of 55.4, taking his earnings to just over $30,000, with the youngster looking to have a promising future ahead of him.
The last went the way of the locals with Gingers Jet winning narrowly in the ninth for Bunbury trainer Vanessa Brockman and driver Bailey McDonough. After surrendering the lead, McDonough made full use of the sprint lane to win narrowly by a half head with the $5.50 starter being the longest priced winner on the night.
