Experienced former South Australian horseman Scott Ewen breathed a sigh of relief this week when the star of his harness racing stable proved his credentials.
Ewen was lured across the border to take up occupancy at the Cranbourne Training Centre last month and had been waiting patiently for his pin-up boy Bulletproof Boy (Art Official-My Riviera Girl (Red River Hanover) to get an ounce of luck and put his best foot forward.
"I'm not usually one to get ahead of myself, but I really did think the race at Yarra Valley on Monday looked right up his alley, being a slight drop in class," Ewen said.
"Some of his recent runs at Melton had been luckless and the sectional times he was posting were awesome," he said.
"I will admit that I told Kima (Frenning) before the race that I was pretty confident and to drive him like he was the best horse in the race. I didn't mean to put pressure on her, but she did get a bit of a fright.
"However, she drove the horse perfectly by getting into the running line straight away after starting from inside the back row."
Frenning decided to launch with about 600 metres to go and Bulletproof Boy hit his straps nicely to join the leading brigade rounding the home turn.
They burst clear in the run to the wire for an impressive nine metre margin and a time of 1.57-2 (closing splits of 28.8 and 27.4).
Bulletproof boy has now recorded 22 wins from 54 starts and Ewen said he planned to give the pacer a few more shots at metropolitan racing.
"Melton is only a bit over an hour away and I'd love him to get some form on the board so we can have a crack at the rich four and five-year-old Vicbred Championship next month," he said.
"His formline reads as if he's tapered off, which is not the case. We've come up with the awkward seven alley this Saturday, but he won't be far away. It does look a good race for him."
Ewen has another racehorse in Penny Bobbins (Changeover-Cyclone Dora (Safely Kept) in his stable, along with a quartet of horses – a 2yo trotter and three pacers – owned by the Cranbourne Club 21 Ltd syndication.
Penny Bobbins scored late last month at Geelong and has been placed at Cranbourne and Melton. The mare now has four wins and five placings from 21 starts.
Scott and Kylie with Geelong winner, Penny Bobbins
Ewen has been around horses "pretty much all his life", following his late father Barry into the sport in South Australia, but this is not his first foray to Victoria.
"I was stable foreman for Lance Justice when he was in Adelaide for a fair while and later got out of horses for a little bit when I worked at some full-time jobs and built a house," he said.
"Then about 10 years ago I hooked up with Lance again once he'd become established at Melton and I spent 18 months with him then.
"Dad got a property outside of Gawler, which was reasonably close to Adelaide's Globe Derby Park and decided to go into thoroughbreds as well. So I went back and joined him there and did most of the pacers for him.
"I remember one day dad won a gallops race and then trained a standardbred winner that night and they labelled him as a dual code winner!"
Ewen said he was enjoying being based at Cranbourne, particularly with the number of tracks within an easy drive of the complex.
"I'm really loving it, actually. Back home in South Australia, apart from Globe Derby, there was a fair bit of travelling. Port Pirie for example was at least two hours for us and then you had the problem of racing for little stakemeoney.
"When I first of all came to the Cranbourne complex, I did say if you couldn't train a winner out of these state-of-the-art facilities, there was something wrong! It just has everything you want from a walking machine to a bungy swim."
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura