Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
A considerably reduced workload has done the trick for Vulcan Star, who ended a losing sequence of twelve in emphatic fashion when he relished the role of pacemaker and scored an effortless victory in the 1730m Bridge Bar Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The New Zealand-bred seven-year-old, prepared by Greg and Skye Bond, was the $2.80 favourite from barrier No. 4, and was driven aggressively by Deni Roberts, who dashed him straight to the front and then set a fast pace to beat $12 chance Ifeel Sikdarl by two lengths, rating 1.54.8, with final quarters of 28.2sec. and 27.9sec.
“Vulcan Star has been very unlucky with bad barriers, and this was one of the first times that we have used him off the gate,” said Mrs Bond.
“Tonight, there wasn’t a huge amount of gate speed inside of us, so we felt why not push the button. And I think he was happy he wasn’t chasing out five deep for once.
“He is a lovely horse to have around and we always thought that there was a bit of a motor there. We’ve just been working out the best way to work him. He hasn’t always handled our heavy sand training, and recently we’ve worked out that we don’t really need to work him at all, and he goes really well.
“He has no hoppled runs and he won’t even gallop between runs. He will have a little jog around on the sand and a few laps on the hard and a few on the sand when he’s led off the motor bike. He does a lot less than the others at home.”
Vulcan Star is by American sire A Rocknroll Dance and is the first foal out of the Bettors Delight mare Strata Star, who raced 46 times for eight wins, 13 placings and $60,230. Vulcan Star won three minor events from eleven starts in New Zealand and now has had 31 starts in WA for eight wins and 12 placings.
Strata Star is a half-sister to Ima Rocket Star, who won 19 races for the Bond stable in a splendid 76-start career of 25 wins, 22 placings and $411,929. Ima Rocket Star’s wins included the Group 3 Country Cup final at Gloucester Park in October 2009, the Group 2 Four-Year-Old Championship the following month and the Group 3 Pinjarra Cup in June 2013 when he beat Hokonui Ben.
Ima Rocket Star also finished third behind Bonavista Bay and Captain Joy in the 2009 Golden Nugget, and was second to Villagem in the Group 1 Chariots Of Fire at Menangle in July 2010.