By Brad Kingsbury
PAKENHAM hosted its traditional pre-cup meeting last Friday, highlighted by the win of Cranbourne galloper Bonython in the feature Bon Hoysted Apprentices Cup.
Another feature of the nine-race twilight meeting, in front of a disappointing crowd, was a treble to leading metropolitan rider Craig Williams in the first three events of the day.
Williams left the track after his triple success to honour engagements at Moonee Valley.
Bonython, trained by master horseman Colin Alderson, was ridden on the pace by apprentice jockey Andrew Mallyon and produced a kick to down two Pakenham-trained gallopers Awakening and Get It Good.
Mallyon has been in great form at Pakenham this season and is currently leading the jockey’s premiership at the track.
He joined a list of top-line hoops including Noel Callow, Steven King, Mark Flaherty and Danny Nikolic who have won the race and said it was a great honour to have his name listed with theirs.
Mallyon also wore the famous colours of star galloper Manikato, which was formerly trained by Bon Hoysted, adding nostalgia to the win.
The sole Pakenham-trained winner saluted in the fourth race, the Class 3 Handicap, when Denis Phelan’s five-year-old gelding Derry Downs was rated perfectly by Jason Benbow to win by a head at $29, despite the race appearing too short for him.
“It’s just good to get back in the winner’s circle,” he said.
“He’s had a good break and was very fresh. He ran a good trial here last week and the track having a little bit of sting out of it made the difference.”
Phelan said they’d now stretch him out with a bit more distance.
“He offered a lot of big things as a three-year-old and never quite made it,” he said.
“He looks just as good now, but I’m happy to take it one run at a time and not plan too far ahead.”
The Pakenham Gazette Maiden Plate was taken out by the in-form combination of Cranbourne trainer Wendy Kelly and hot locally based jockey Vlad Duric.
Duric said the horse showed a lot of promise and was looking for more ground and Ms Kelly agreed, saying she had worked hard to bring the best out of the young galloper.
“We’ve always had a bit of an opinion of this horse, but he’s been a wayward in his manners and it’s taken us a bit of time to correct that,” the happy trainer said after the victory.
“The application of blinkers were a definite advantage, but he had to learn to race before we could put them on.
“He worked brilliantly during the week and we knew he’d be hard to beat today.”
Ms Kelly said Palmyra Boy would likely head to a metropolitan race, providing he pulled up without effect.
The next event at the track will be the Pakenham Cup meeting on Sunday, 26 February.
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