MITCHELL Bell waited for the right moment to pounce on board Hirokin in Monday’s Brian Burke Printing Wellington Cup Prelude (1,800 metres) at Tyers Park.
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Hirokin ($2.60 favourite) was the best in the five-horse field for Warwick Farm trainer Jarrod Austin, beating home three home-trained contenders to the top prize.
Two of those Bathurst runners filled the minor placings. Roy McCabe’s I’m Away ($3.50) battled on well for second spot 1.5 lengths adrift, while Paul Theobald’s early race leader Bathurstian ($17) ran gamely for third.
Recent Bathurst Cup placegetter Uncle Sugar ($2.70) struggled to carry the 61 kilogram top weight while Theobald’s other contender, Tiger’s Story ($26) finished at the tail of the field.
The win gave Bell his second success of the day after guiding Betterthanyouthink to victory in the meeting’s opening event, the Westco Class 2 Handicap (1,800m).
In the Prelude, Bathurstian – in the hands of apprentice Jean Van Overmeire – unsurprisingly took up his favoured front-running position as the field went past the post for the first time.
Bell tucked Hirokin directly behind the leader while a small two length break emerged back to I’m Away, who had Uncle Sugar racing on his outside.
Tiger’s Story began to lose contact with the field on the back straight and was as far as eight lengths off the field at one point.
That’s the way proceedings remained until the turn for home.
Bell pulled Hirokin to the outside of Bathurstian and passed the local runner with 350m left to race.
I’m Away attempted to keep up with the new leader down the middle of the track but Bell’s runner didn’t look troubled on his way to victory.
“The plan was to see how the race panned out. I would have been happy to go forward and lead but the speed was there so I was happy to sit off it. It worked out well for us,” Bell said.
“I knew it was going to be a struggle for the top-weight [Uncle Sugar] with that sort of weight to be coming off my back, especially with the horse I had underneath me.
“I waited until the death. Coming into the home corner he felt really good, and I thought ‘I don’t have to get going yet, I can wait until I straighten to make my move’ and it panned out well.”
Bell was happy to add to his earlier success on Betterthanyouthink.
“That was a nice ride for me. The two starts for [trainer] Mark Gee leading up to today were quite impressive so I was always happy to pick up that ride,” he said.
“He’s got a few quirks but his ability shows that he’ll be able to go on with it.”