A brilliant performance in the sulky by Maddison Brown paved the way for Back In Twenty’s easy victory in the 2130m Fly Like An Eagle Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
It also led to the undoing and defeat of the $1.70 favourite To Fast To Serious.
Brown sent noted frontrunner Back In Twenty straight to the front from the No. 2 barrier and was able to dawdle through the lead time in a very slow 39.2sec. before ambling through the first quarters of the final mile in 31.5sec. and 30.1sec. while To Fast To Serious, restrained from out wide at barrier seven, was travelling easily in sixth position, one-out and two-back.
Aldo Cortopassi sent To Fast To Serious forward with a three-wide burst with 750m to travel and the outstanding five-year-old moved to fourth 400m from home while the third 400m section whizzed by in 27.2sec. Back In Twenty sustained his strong sprint in front and sped over the final 400m in 28.1sec., leaving To Fast To Serious with little hope of overhauling the pacemaker, who beat the fast-finishing Shanway by two lengths at a 1.57.9 rate. To Fast To Serious finished fourth.
Brown has developed a good association with Back In Twenty. She has driven the gelding eight times for three wins and two third placings.
Back In Twenty, bred and owned by Bob Fowler and trained by Justin Prentice, has always proved hard to beat when he leads. This was his tenth victory after setting the pace, and it took his record to 12 wins, 15 placings for stakes of $117,985 from 61 starts.
Back In Twenty is by American sire Sportswriter and is the first foal out of Northern Luck mare Aristocratic Glow, who raced 44 times fore nine wins, 13 placings and $74,756 in prizemoney.
Aristocratic Glow’s second foal is four-year-old Aristocratic Star, who shone as a two-year-old with his second to Manning in the Group 1 Pearl Classic, his second to Major Martini in the Group 1 Westbred Classic, and his fourth behind Jaspervellabeach in the Golden Slipper. As a three-year-old he won the Group 3 Country Derby in Bunbury in March 2020.
by Ken Casellas