BACCHUS Raucous may have been in relax mode on Wednesday night at the Bathurst Paceway, but the talented five-year-old still justified his short price favouritism with ease.
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The Josh Turnbull trained Kenneth J x Village Babe gelding started as a $1.10 prospect in the Reliance Pace (1,730 metres) given a solid start to the season, having placed in five of his 10 starts.
From his barrier 10 draw driver Mitch Turnbull, Josh’s brother, was happy to settle near the rear of the field early on.
It was Wrangler Duke ($17.80, Trent Rue) who set the tempo after crossing from barrier seven to take the lead, clocking splits of 28.1 and 30.8 seconds for the opening half of the last mile.
Mitch Turnbull got the favourite going into the back straight, quickly moving from ninth into fourth.
With 550m to go Bacchus Raucous had moved into second a length off the pace and though Wrangler Duke kicked into the straight, the favourite had things under control.
Bacchus Raucous went on to win by 3½m over Wrangler Duke in a 1:56.4 mile rate. Third, a further 2m back, was Its A Shakedown ($20.20, Nathan Turnbull).
“He’s been racing really well and I thought he settled well into the race tonight,” Turnbull said.
“He was funny in the run, he was so relaxed … he dropped back to third or fourth gear I think.
“When we were going into that last corner he [Wrangler Duke] was travelling beautifully, but this fella was nice and relaxed. Once I got on his back I was happy because I knew I’d get nice cover.”