Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
The $50,000 Bunbury Cup next Saturday night is on the agenda for Hoppys Way after he resumed after a spell in dashing style with an easy all-the-way win in the 2130m SEFS You Name It, We Fund It Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Hoppys Way, making his first appearance for 13 weeks, was the $2.80 favourite from the No. 1 barrier, and he was driven confidently by Shannon Suvaljko, who gave the Mike Reed-trained New Zealand-bred five-year-old an easy time early with a slow lead time of 38.1sec. and modest opening quarters of 30.6sec. and 30sec. before lifting the tempo with final 400m sections of 28.3sec. and 27.5sec.
He won by 7m from the $19 chance October Reign, who trailed him throughout. Hoppys Way, who rated 1.56.7 over the 2130m journey, has earned $203,417 from 12 wins and nine placings from 46 starts.
He has been somewhat unlucky in major events, having set the pace and finishing a half-length second to Tricky Miki in the 2022 WA Derby, leading and finishing a half-head second to Wonderful To Fly in the Group 1 Four-Year-Old Classic and fourth behind Tricky Miki in the Golden Nugget last December.
“We will keep racing him through the classes and keep chugging along,” said Reed. “And when he gets to open class, hopefully he might get a start in the big races like the WA Pacing Cup. He has good gate speed and can sit on fast pace.”
Suvaljko said that Hoppys Way hit the line strongly after getting away with a slow speed early in the windy conditions which saw horses having to contend with a strong headwind in the home straight.