Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
It was a strange quirk of fate at Gloucester Park on Friday night that saw up-and-coming four-year-old Our Crunch Time upset his ten-year-old half-brother Major Express with a narrow victory in the 2130m Taste Of WA Pace.
Major Express, on the comeback trail for trainer Brad Lynn, was the $5.50 third fancy, and he looked to have an excellent chance of scoring a heartwarming victory at his first appearance for 17 months when he set a solid pace for Toby Lynn, with $10 chance Our Crunch Time working in the breeze for almost two laps before fighting on to get up in the final couple of strides to snatch a head victory after strong final 400m sections of 27.9sec. and 27.6sec.
Prominent New Zealand breeders Martin and Maureen Pierson bred Major Express and Our Crunch Time from their Bettors Delight mare Macy Delight, who was retired to the breeding barn after having ten starts for two wins (at Cambridge in 2012), four placings and earnings of $10,122.
Major Express is the second foal out of Macy Delight, and Our Crunch Time is the seventh and final foal out of that mare.
An aggressive decision by Deni Roberts to dash forward from the rear with Our Crunch Time soon after the start and then rate the gelding in the breeze paved the way for victory.
Our Crunch Time now has raced 21 times for eight wins, seven placings and $98,104, and is one of several smart pacers prepared by leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond who will be set for the rich feature events for four-year-olds later in the year.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since Dylan Egerton-Green drove Beat The Bank to his first victory, as a two-year-old at Gloucester Park on March 31, 2020, and the evergreen gelding showed that there is still plenty of life left in his eight-year-old legs when he sprouted wings to fly home from ninth on the home turn to win from the pacemaker Tubbs Farquhar in the 2130m Kids Eat Free Pace.
Egerton-Green was driving Beat The Bank for only the tenth time in the WA-bred gelding’s 190-start career which has produced 20 wins, 35 placings and $221,448 in prizemoney.
Beat The Bank, having his fourth start for trainer Brad Lynn, was an $8.60 chance from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line, and Egerton-Green was content to keep him at the rear before setting him alight on the home turn.