WHEN Jason Grimson and Jack Trainor bought Experia from Tim Butt's stable they knew they had plenty of work ahead of them.
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With several injuries to overcome it wasn't going to be easy getting the Hes Watching three-year-old back onto the track in top condition.
But after Wednesday night's latest run for Experia at Bathurst Paceway the gelding is now three from three since changing hands.
Trainor drove the Grimson-trained Experia ($2.15 favourite) to a hard earned success on Wednesday in the Central West Plumbing And Gasfitting Pace (2,260 metres), holding out a resurgent Brooklyns Best ($7, Josh Gallagher) in a two-horse dash to the line.
Experia regained the lead in the early stages after Brooklyns Best briefly took it away, then led the field into the home stretch after a testing third quarter of 27 seconds.
The high pace didn't run Experia into the ground.
He found enough in the tank to battle home in a 1:56.8 mile rate and hold out Brooklyns Best by just under two metres.
Swaggie Shannon ($31, Travis Bullock) continued his consistent run of form over the longer distance with another placing.
Trainor said seeing Experia racing so well is a satisfying sight after the hours of work that have gone into bringing him up to racing form.
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"We got from Tim Butt and they're obviously focused on the top end horses and they owned this one themselves and they offered him off to Jason," he said.
"After his first win he lost half his foot on both feet and it took about six weeks of water walking and rehab and now it's paying off. It's feels really good and it's exciting to see."
In an encouraging sign for Experia's future Trainor believes the horse wasn't 100 per cent focused in Wedbesday's success.
"We've got a really big opinion of him and he's only getting better and better. He's still quite green and immature for a four-year-old, though he's listed as three, and we think he'll go through to metro grade," he said.
"He was up in grade and he did that 27 flat quarter and it was going to be a test to see if he could do it at both ends. He did get a cheap first half and lead time but he showed that he's up for the fight.
"It wasn't until after the line when Josh's horse got next to me that he started to kick again."
In the night's feature Club Menangle Country Series Heat (1,730 metres) there were no surprises as Snuggles Banyula ($2.90) won for trainer-driver David Hewitt ahead of Joint Venture ($6.50, Mat Rue) and Lifeofbrian ($3.70, Isobel Ross).