Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
The much-travelled New Zealand-bred gelding My Ultimate Baxter revealed excellent toughness when he survived considerable mid-race pressure before outclassing the opposition in the 2130m Vale Terry Radley Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The Debra Lewis-trained five-year-old was a well-supported $2.50 favourite who began from the No. 2 barrier and took the lead after 100m and was able to coast through the lead time in 38.2sec. and the opening quarter in 30.1sec. before the hard-pulling $2.90 second fancy Waratah Lou loomed alongside him after a lap.
This resulted in a lift in tempo, with My Ultimate Baxter recording middle quarters of 29sec. and 28.4sec. Waratah Lou began to wilt over the final 400m but battled on to finish second, almost five lengths behind My Ultimate Baxter, who sprinted home powerfully and rated 1.56.3 after a final 400m of 28.3sec.
“From barrier two it looked as though we could lead,” said champion reinsman Chris Lewis. “But I was hoping to be able to dictate a bit more than that. However, that probably was My Ultimate Baxter’s best run in front since coming across (from Sydney early last year).”
My Ultimate Baxter, the winner of the group 2 $50,000 Simpson Memorial for three-year-olds over 1609m at Menangle in January 2022, won five races in Queensland and four in New South Wales before crossing the Nullarbor by float. His 27 starts in WA have produced seven wins and he has a career record of 47 starts for 16 wins, six placings and $157,809. He looks set to win many more times in WA.