Dusty Road back in business on favourite track
Last season’s Gr.2 Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate (1200m) placegetter Dusty Road (NZ) (Shamexpress) found his way back into form, and the top step of the podium, when he held out all challengers to claim the Cambridge Stud Proud Horse Ambulance Supporters (1200m) open sprint at Te Rapa on Saturday.
The Graeme Cameron-prepared seven-year-old had been struggling to find form with a string of unplaced finishes in his current campaign, including an inglorious last when tried over 2000m on the Cambridge synthetic last month.
Cameron took the son of Shamexpress back to the trials and he signalled he was ready to drastically improve on his current form line with a tidy victory over 1100m at Te Rapa on Tuesday in open company, defeating last year’s Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) winner Romanoff.
Rider Joe Doyle had his mount underway nicely from the barrier and was content to travel in the slipstream of leader Bella Timing before moving up to dispute proceedings with 600m to run.
The pair went head-to-head until well into the home straight where Dusty Road went clear with 100m to the finish to defeat Bella Timing and the late closing Little Bit Of Love.
Cameron was delighted to see his charge back in winning form after he had been scratching his head a little earlier in the campaign.
“He seems to go well at this time of the year and I think we found out plenty last time when we tried him over ground,” Cameron said.
“We thought we’d give him a try (over ground) but Liam (Kauri, jockey) came back in and said that he was definitely a sprinter and not a stayer, so it was back to the drawing board.
“We had been giving him plenty of work over ground and when I cut that back he seemed a much happier horse. We put him in the trial and he went well and when I saw the noms for the race (on Saturday) I thought we would give it a go.
“Joe rode him beautifully and he got the victory.”
Cameron has his sights set on a return to the Foxbridge Plate (1200m), which will be run at the Hamilton venue on 22 August.
“I’d love to have another go at the Foxbridge provided he can make the field,” he said.
“He goes so well at Te Rapa and if we could get Joe to ride him then I would be confident of a good showing.”
Raced by Cameron and his wife Jacky, Dusty Road has now won six of his 42 career starts and over $215,000 in prizemoney for the pair.
The Camerons nearly made it two wins as an owner on the day as they have a share in the John Bell-trained Amazonia (NZ) (Swiss Ace), who went a mighty race to finish second behind Miss Understood later on the card.
