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Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators

Speedy five-year-old Hampton Banner was far from disgraced last month when sixth behind Wildwest in the WA Pacing Cup and fourth behind Minstrel in the Lord Mayor’s Cup, and he is now enjoying a considerable drop in class, with smart victories at Gloucester Park on the past two Fridays.

He was the $1.70 favourite from barrier four in the 2536m SEFS Finance Kenwick Pace on Friday night when Chris Lewis guided him to an easy all-the-way victory over Vespa ($3.50) and Thomson Bay ($81).

A week earlier he led and won from Valentines Brook over 2130m. He now has raced 21 times in WA for Hopeland trainer Debra Lewis for eight wins and three placings to boost his career record to 31 starts for 11 wins, five placings and stakes of $144,313.

With champion reinsman Chris Lewis earning the plaudits for a perfect drive behind Hampton Banner, 20-year-old Kyle Symington deserves praise for his effort in bringing rank outsider Thomson Bay home from sixth at the bell with a powerful four-wide burst to finish third. This was Symington’s first night in the sulky at a Friday night metropolitan meeting.