Bonavista Bay wins the Vicbred 4YO Final
Chris Alford has special incentive for wanting to celebrate victory with Bonavista Bay this Friday night at Melton's Tabcorp Park.
Not only will the $20,000 Sky Racing Golden Reign Free-For-All mark his reunion with the superstar four-year-old, it comes in a race named after a horse close to Alford's heart.
Golden Reign provided the Bolinda reinsman with some of his greatest victories, including the 1995 Inter Dominion final, and he would dearly love to win the race in his honour.
Alford drove longshot Im Mark Antony into third place in last year's inaugural edition at Moonee Valley, a race best remembered for Melpark Major suffering an atrial fibrillation at his first run since his stunning Victoria Cup win.
He realises he has a much better drive this year, but Alford also knows the enormity of the task facing Bonavista Bay's at his first run claiming the Group 1 Vicbred Super Series final with Mark Reed in the cart four weeks ago.
The Mike Reed-trained gun has drawn outside the back row in the capacity 12-horse field at what will be his final run before heading to Sydney for a Chariots Of Fire qualifier on July 16.
"It's a tough race," Alford said. "He's got the extreme outside draw and there are some in-form horses in it, but it'll be a good pipe-opener for him for when he goes to Sydney.
"But while it will be a top-up run for him, but I'd say he'll still probably be pretty close to the mark."
The Rustler Hanover entire, victorious at 17 of his 29 starts, will need to be with established performers Bold Cruiser and Karlsruhe heading his list of rivals in the 2240-metre mobile.
Karlsruhe returns to the front line (barrier seven) after winning last week's The Enduro off 30m, while Bold Cruiser is chasing back-to-back wins after a gutsy first-up victory in the Italian Cup.
The progressive Flyin Interstate (six), classy four-year-old Coastal (10) and rejuvenated Charleys Dream (12), a winner of his past six starts, form a solid support cast.
The Golden Reign FFA, which carries a $13,000 First 4 jackpot, is race seven on the program and will be run at 9.42pm.
