Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
New Zealand-bred pacer Jett Star graduated to Free-For-All company at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he worked hard in the breeze before winning the 2130m 4TH May 2008 Pace.
He was the $2 favourite from barrier five when he raced three wide early and then without cover before getting to the front 220m from home and then holding on to beat the fast-finishing $12 chance Lil Happy Fella by a neck, rating 1.55.8.
Withoutthetuh ($5) led for the first 500m before Ira Poole ($6) assumed control in front. Jett Star, driven by Deni Roberts, again revealed his strong competitive nature.
He now has raced 47 times for Team Bond for 20 wins, nine seconds and one third for earnings of $249,065. Prepared by leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond, Jett Star was an outstanding two-year-old in 2020 when he won five races, including his victory over Lavra Joe in the Pearl Classic.
Unfortunately, a serious setback interrupted his burgeoning career, and he was off the scene for eleven months, with Greg Bond explaining: “We lost him as a three-year-old when he had to have a throat operation.
“As a two-year-old he looked like he was going to be a serious horse before his throat problems, and that’s why he missed the WA Derby and other feature events for three-year-olds.
“It took a while for him to come back after the operation, and to his credit he has advanced to Free-For-Alls. It has been a great effort.”
Jett Star is by Bettors Delight and is the second foal out of Steel The Light, who raced 32 times for seven wins, nine placings and $40,639 in stakes.
The Bonds also own and train Jett Star’s elder full-brother Steel The Show, who has had 66 starts for 14 wins, 20 placings and $365,207.
Those two pacers have a full-sister Lady Of The Light, who has excelled in New Zealand where her first 32 starts have produced 11 wins, eight placings and stakes of $246,627. She won at her first five starts (as a two-year-old in late 2021) and as a three-year-old she finished a close second to True Fantasy in the Group 1 Great Northern Oaks at Alexandra Park.
Then as a four-year-old last year Lady Of The Light finished a head second to Callie’s Delight in the Group 1 Breeders Stakes at Addington and won the Group 1 Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park.