Evergreen seven-year-old Black Jack Zac defied the statistics when he started at odds-on ($1.50) for the first time in his 106-start career and gave an exemplary frontrunning display to score an easy win in the 2130m Caduceus Club Of WA Pace at Gloucester Park on Saturday night.
He had managed just four placings from his previous 26 starts and boasted a losing sequence of 53 stretching over 87 weeks. The Queensland-bred gelding had never led and won a race before, with his eight wins being achieved after he had produced a spirited finishing burst.
Though the stark facts suggested that Black Jack Zac faced a tough task, punters rallied to support him from the prized No. 1 barrier and taking into consideration the poor form of his nine rivals.
Black Jack Zac was beaten out by Ideal Investment from barrier two, but that eight-year-old was unable to muster sufficient speed to cross to the front.
Chris Lewis drove Black Jack Zac hard to defy the challenge from Ideal Investment, and he then rated the veteran gelding perfectly in front before dashing away in the home straight to win by two lengths from $126 outsider One For Sassy, rating 1.57.5.
This was Black Jack Zac’s seventh win at Gloucester Park, and his fifth in a metropolitan-class event. He now has had 106 starts for nine wins, 27 placings and stakes of $144,533 for his 75-year-old owner John Ellis, who had prepared him for his previous eight victories.
By Ken Casellas