While his last win was 11 months ago and he had had 21 starts since then, former northerner Mach Cruiser looks another bargain buy for the Westview syndications after a convincing win in Sundays feature at Motukarara.
Formerly trained by Doug Gale in the north, Westview principal Nigel Armstrong recieved an offer to buy the the Mach Three 8yr old by mate and North Canterbury horseman Gavin Smith about three months ago.
The bonus was that the horse had been in full work for awhile and was at workouts and trials in early October.
He showed with a couple of good trial runs that he could be the type of horse that would be easy to place in Country Cups races over the summer.
Going into today's race, Mach Cruiser had had three starts for two 7ths and a 9th.
On paper hardly a startling formline, however, for those that had watched the cup day run for 7th, today's $31 dividend looked a tasty prospect.
In his cup day assignment he ran home to be beaten 12 lengths by an impressive Maverick, his own time in running 7th a once unheard of 3.10.8.
After breaking early on in his Show Day race, Mach Cruiser lost all chance in what was his dropback race to C3.
However, based on what he was showing at home, there was a quiet optimism from the stable about his chances today.
After stepping brilliantly for driver Gavin Smith he enjoyed a nice trip in the one-one for the first half of the race.
However, the three wide train came into play down the backstraight and coming to the turn his chances looked forlorn as he was third last and caught in traffic.
It was well into the straight that Gavin finally managed to find some clear air and the horse let down in style wide out.
He eventually managed to haul in Dana Duke in the shadows of the post, getting up for victory by a head in 3.41.3 for the 2810m.
This was the 8th win from 62 starts for Mach Cruiser taking his stake-earnings to $44,098.
More importantly though, this was the first win for his new owners, the Westview Racing No 14 syndicate.
Talking to Nigel after the race he indicated that there were many first time owners in the syndicate, with 21 new to racing owners in the horse.
It was fitting that the man doing the driving today was Gavin, the same man that initially suggested to Nigel that this would be a horse worth having a crack with.
Well done to all concerned and I am sure that there will be more grass track assignments to have a crack at as the summer progresses.
Mike Drury
Robert Dunn Racing Stables – Check site here