HOT $1.10 favourite Conviction may have lived up to expectation in winning his heat of the NSW Breeders Challenge series on Wednesday night at the Bathurst Paceway, but it was a close thing.
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The son of For A Reason was the only runner in the 1,730 metres three-year-old colts and geldings heat to start at single-figure odds despite having his first start in 20 days for The Lagoon trainer Steve Turnbull.
Going from barrier three with Amanda Turnbull in the gig, Conviction managed to find the head of the field thanks to a 8.2 seconds lead time.
But down the home straight the challengers came at Conviction, who had tired after clocking splits of 29.2, 29.4 and 29.2 seconds.
At the line there was little in it, but Conviction held on to win by a head in a 1:56.8 mile rate.
It was a trifecta for the Radiant Lodge stables as Nathan Turnbull claimed second aboard Bradness Eldefuego ($36.20), with the Steve Turnbull driven Joes Star Of Mia ($12.30) a half-head back in third.
“It was actually not much between them, we just drew the best,” Amanda Turnbull said after the seventh win of Conviction’s 22-start career.
“In these normally the one who gets the lead wins.”
In the second of the Breeder Challenge heats conducted at the meeting, the Steve and Amanda Turnbull trainer-driver combination once more lived up to expectation with a short-priced favourite.
This time it was a more comfortable victory as Atomic Red ($1.04) finished 5.4m clear of runner-up Pretty Hot ($29.10) thanks to an impressive 27.8 seconds final split.
