Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Veteran pacer Duty Bound is appreciating the tender care of his trainer Jemma Hayman, and he maintained his recent burst of good form with an all-the-way success in the 2130m Give It Your Best Shot With Ultimate Sniper At Allwood Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“He had a reputation over east of being cranky and had the tendency to put the boots in,” said Hayman. “But keeping him sound and happy has cured him of that, and I’m happy that he’s happy. He has had some feet issues, like a lot of Mach Three pacers. Other than that, he has been good.”
Duty Bound was the $2.10 favourite from the No. 2 barrier, and Chris Voak got him away smartly to take up the running from the polemarker and $3.30 second fancy Wall Street Girl, with Tux And Tails beginning speedily from barrier six to race in the breeze.
Duty Bound ran the final quarters in 29sec. and 28.9sec. and beat Mega Mach by a half-length after that pacer had made an unsuccessful early bid for the lead and then dropped back to race in the one-out, two-back position.
The New Zealand-bred Duty Bound is an eight-year-old who has earned $78,165 from nine wins and 25 placings from 61 starts. He is the third foal out of the Washington VC mare Well Hereshoping, who failed to win from 27 New Zealand starts before winning four times on country tracks from ten Victorian starts.