New Zealand-bred mare Captainshavtime was sold to American interests after winning a race as a three-year-old at Gloucester Park last October. But the sale fell through and the mare remained with her champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond.
Captainshavtime went for a spell after the sale fell through, and she resumed racing at Gloucester Park on Friday night when she began from the No. 2 barrier on the back line in the 2130m Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Albion Pace Pace.
She was an $11.10 chance and Deni Roberts quickly had her travelling sweetly in fourth position, three back on the pegs, while the polemarker and $1.38 favourite Raklou was setting a solid pace.
Roberts angled Captainshavtime off the pegs 500m from home when the breeze horse Blue Blazer began to wilt and drop back. Captainshavtime sprinted strongly to hit the front on the home turn before winning by a half-neck from $21 chance Louie Lebeau, who was eighth at the bell and rattled home, out wide on the track. The final 800m was covered in 56.6sec. and the winner rated 1.55.
Captainshavtime is by American sire Captain Crunch, and she has earned $124,520 from ten wins and four placings from 22 starts.
“Her next run will be in the $75,000 Empress Stakes in a fortnight,” said Roberts, who drove three winners in successive events on the eight-event program.
Her first two winners Captainshavtime and Tualou were both $11.10 chances, and her third winner Medieval Man was a $20.80 outsider. A $10 all-up wager would have returned $25,625.
Tualou enjoyed a perfect trip in the one-out, one-back position before running home fast to snatch a last-stride victory by a short half-head from the frontrunner Rockandrollartist ($5) in the Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Menangle Pace.
The other winner on the program was the Shane Tognolini-trained seven-year-old Cee Dee Three, who was a $5.60 chance in the Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Newcastle Pace. He was driven by Kyle Harper for an all-the-way triumph over the $2.40 favourite Rox The World, who sustained a strong burst from 11TH at the bell.
