TRAINER Steve Turnbull had a good time of it on Wednesday on his home track after his $7.80 hopeful Casino Tommy was elevated to first place following a protest against $1.80 favourite Art Mistress in the 3YO Pace (2,260 metres).
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Youngest son Mitch Turnbull was driving the son of John Street North out of Casino Princess, and lost a close battle with Bernie Hewitt and Art Mistress in the run to the line.
A protest after the race was upheld, however, and the results reversed by stewards.
It was the second win of the evening for the Turnbull combination, after Mitch guided The Space Invader ($16.10) to a good victory in the opening race on the card, the C1-C2 Breeders Challenge Pace (2,260m).
The four-year-old gelding won a good battle with $1.70 favourite Karloo Ten Seventy down the home straight, saluting by 3.4m to claim the eighth win of what has been a consistent career.
In the process, The Space Invader took his earnings beyond $40,000.
“I saw Karloo Ten Seventy start to slow up a little bit at one stage and tried to get a bit of a sit on him. It all worked out pretty much perfectly the way the race was run,” Mitch Turnbull said.
“He had his first start back at the races after a long spell last week and went okay, but he’s been trialling very well before getting back to racing and today he was just spot on.”
There was a remarkably even start across the front row early on before Puffnstuff ($9.30), Count Montecristo ($113.60) and Allnight Kiss ($36.70) got a few metres clear of the field, and eventually it was Puffnstuff who settled first.
There wasn’t a lot happening behind the leader during the first half a lap but, as expected, the favourite began to move forward from his back row draw, getting to the shoulder of Puffnstuff as they passed the post for the final time after two opening quarters of 31 and 30.1 seconds.
Driver Chris Geary gradually moved Karloo Ten Seventy forward down the back to pressure the leader and by the time they had reached the final bend he had poked his head in front, despite having to cover some extra ground.
He looked a winner as they rounded the turn, but he had been tracked from start to finish by The Space Invader, and as the extra workload began to catch up with the favourite it was Turnbull who picked up the pace, going into the lead with 100m to race.
He crossed the line a clear winner.
The back half of the race was a lot quicker – a 28.8s third quarter followed by a 28.1s sectional to finish, and a final mile-rate of 1:58.5.
Behind Karloo Ten Seventy, Cullectomatic produced a nice run to come from well back in the field and grab third, 10 metres behind the leading pair.
