Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Nine-year-old Fanci A Dance showed that age and a wide barrier (No. 8) are certainly not insurmountable barriers when he proved far too good for his eleven rivals in the 2536m It’s Camel Time Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Driven aggressively by master reinsman Chris Lewis, Fanci A Dance, the third favourite at $5.10, raced three wide for much of the race. He led narrowly from the pacemaker Dominus Factum ($13) at the 1000m mark before taking a clear lead 550m from home and racing away to win by two lengths from $4.40 chance Dont Bother, rating 1.57.9. Master Publisher, the $3.20 favourite, was a well-beaten third.
Fanci A Dance, who was bred and is owned by Busselton trainer Barry Howlett and his son Jimmy, has been a wonderful performer who has earned $178,415 from 15 wins and 29 placings from 83 starts. His win on Friday night ended a sequence of seconds behind The Code Breaker, Whatabro and Ideal Agent.
His victory completed a driving treble for Lewis, who had been successful earlier in the night with Hampton Banner and Lavra Joe. Lewis, who also finished third with Rascal, second with Three Rumours and second with Wall Street Girl during the night, kept up the good work by driving the Ian Foley-trained General Jolt to victory in a 2190m event at Northam on Saturday night.