Cala Greca is back in the winners circle for the first time in almost 10 months, after Jason Turnbull drove the five-year-old gelding to victory at the Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday night.
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Drawing barrier three in the front row, the Wendy Turnbull-trained chance got away to the lead just as the mobile broke away in the Vale Graham 'Joe' Ross (2260 metres) and he never surrendered his position, pulling away to win by more than two metres.
The win at Bathurst was the first victory for the gelding since a win at Forbes on May 2, the horse's fourth overall win from 37 starts.
Turnbull said he was pleased with the win, which came in the opening race of the meeting.
"He basically had the win. He got a really good trip in front and all the ones that were coming were way back," he said.
"I thought the stable mate [Lilmac] was going to be danger from behind, but he didn't run as well as we would've liked.
"I'm very happy, he did everything he needed to do."
The Steve Turnbull-trained Prince Parker ($3.90 favourite) would finish up in second, with fan favourite Jed Betts' Limbo Larry ($4.40) to the third and final placing in his 309th start.
Turnbull was pleased that the gelding returned to the winner's circle, having picked up a second in two of his last three starts.
"He hasn't won for a while but he's run well in his past three," he said.
"He got second a fortnight ago, which was really good for him. He got the win tonight, which was the main thing, but he's going well. We've had a lot of luck."
Turnbull will now take it week-by-week with the gelding, with no overall big plans for Cala Greca.
"We'll just see where we go to from here," he said.
"We'll just try and figure out what we're going to do now. I think he's a 51 or 52 now, so I'll have to have a look ahead and see what's on for him."
Turnbull would come up short in winning consecutive races, driving Peter Keogh's Rusty Mccool to second place in the second race of the meeting.
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