Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Hampton Banner confirmed his standing as a genuine contender in the Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup in January when he gave an impressive frontrunning performance to win the 2130m Keep Up To Date On The Allwood Stud Website Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Starting the second fancy at $2.40, Hampton Banner turned the tables on brilliant four-year-old Lavra Joe, who had scored a head victory over him in the Group 3 Porter Memorial the previous Friday night.
Jocelyn Young made full use of Hampton Banner’s sparkling gate speed, and the gelding surged straight to the front from the No. 1 barrier. Chris Lewis got Lavra Joe, the $1.45 favourite, away fast from barrier three in the four-horse field, but Lavra Joe was unable to cross to the front.
Young made sure that Lavra Joe did not have the luxury of having an easy run in the breeze by setting a fast pace, with the final three 400m sections whizzing by in 28.2sec., 27.7sec. and 28.6sec. Lavra Joe fought on determinedly, but Hampton Banner prevailed to win by a half length, rating 1.54.4.
Hampton Banner won at three of his ten starts in New Zealand, and his 25 starts in Western Australia have produced ten wins and five seconds. He has earned $181,788 from his 13 wins and six seconds from 35 starts.
Mark Lewis, a part-owner of Hampton Banner and the son of the gelding’s trainer Debra Lewis, said that the gelding took full advantage of drawing inside of Lavra Joe and being able to keep the favourite in the breeze.
“Hampton Banner will keep racing in Free-For-Alls, and hopefully he will keep improving and is good enough to get a run in the Cups,” he said.
Hampton Banner showed last summer that he had the ability to perform strongly in big feature events when he finished second to Papinik in the Fremantle Cup Consolation before finishing sixth behind Wildwest in the WA Pacing Cup and fourth to Minstrel in the Lord Mayor’s Cup.