By Josh Smith – Harness News Desk
Punters backed Bossmaro into an equal money favourite in the Fahey Fence hire Mobile Pace (2600m) at Addington Raceway on Sunday and the Rodger Austin-trained gelding didn’t disappoint his supporters.
New Zealand Premiership leading driver Blair Orange took advantage of his ace draw, stoking up his charge to take and early lead.
The pair didn’t relinquish their advantage and ran away to a comfortable 3-1/2 length win over Paul’s Verdict, with a further 4-1/2 lengths back to Donegal Gilbert in third.
Austin was pleased with the four-year-old’s winning effort and said it came as a relief after a series of promising runs this preparation.
“He went really well, I am really pleased with the way he went today,” Austin said.
“Once he got out of the gate he got an easy lead and from there I thought he would take some catching.”
The son of Auckland Reactor has continued to impress Austin with his progress this preparation, particularly his runner-up performance over 2600m at Addington Raceway last week.
“He has been going some quite good races,” Austin said.
“He has been racing a lot kinder and has been doing things right. His sectionals have been really good, so he has been knocking on the door.”
Austin has been trying to correct a few issues Bossmaro developed late last year and is delighted to see his patience pay dividends on Sunday.
“We had a bit of trouble with him after Christmas, after he won a race,” Austin said. “He started pulling quite hard in his races and not doing things right, especially behind the mobile.
“We put him on the unruly and he had a few bad runs. The unruly is not always the best place to be, especially over those 1950m races. He just wasn’t getting good runs, but was going okay races.
“We did a bit of work with him over the break and changed a bit of gear on him, which seems to have helped.
“We got him off the unruly, so that has made a big difference to him.”
It was Bossmaro’s fourth run this preparation and Austin said the four-year-old gelding may now head for a quick freshen-up.
“We might give him a bit of a breather now because he is a big, skinny fella.”
Earlier in the card Austin lined-up another favourite in Idle Stuartia, but the daughter of Superfast Stuart could only manage a fourth-placing after doing a bit of work mid-race.
While she wasn’t able to add to her win tally Austin was still happy with the way she performed.
“She went near enough, she did a bit of work through the race,” he said.
“She probably just lacks a little bit of toughness. She has got a lot of speed but if she has got to do a little bit of extra work she is not quite as good.”
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