Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Veteran pacer Cordero caused a major boilover when he was a $41.60 outsider and sprinted home fast to snatch a nose victory over the $1.55 favourite Jumpingjackmac in the 2130m Westral Roller Shutters Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Jumpingjackmac, driven by Stuart McDonald, dashed forward from barrier five to surge past the polemarker Cordero after 300m and had a comfortable time in front with opening quarters of 31sec. and 29.5sec.
The next 400m sections were run in 28.3sec. and 28.2sec. and Cordero, a small eight-year-old gelding, driven hard by Kyle Harper, flashed home to get up and beat the hot favourite and end a losing sequence of 33 and a 13-month drought.
“It was a case of the right barrier and the right race,” said Harper. “He did it quite easily in the end. He runs his best races in this (Free-For-All) grade when they run a real time. He is an enigma when he’s down in grade. He doesn’t do so well in the lower-grade races he contests when they don’t run a genuine time.”
This was the second time that Cordero had started at long odds and got up to defeat star pacers. He was a $119.50 outsider from barrier seven and raced three back on the pegs before charging home to beat Chicago Bull, the $1.85 favourite by a nose in a 2536m Free-For-All on February 25, 2022, with Patronus Star close up in third place.
Cordero has proved to be a wonderful evergreen performer for his 70-year-old owner-trainer Trevor Wright, who was given the pacer as a two-year-old in April 2018.
Bryan Cousins bred and owned Cordero and was so disappointed when he was a $104 outsider on debut at Pinjarra on April 16, 2018, and finished last,109 metres behind the winner Valbonne, that he gave him to Wright as a gift.
Cordero now has raced 155 times for Wright, earning $260,276 from 15 wins and 39 placings.