Dean Braun hopes for more Tabcorp Park success next weekend with Our Chain Of Command
Boom former Kiwi five-year-old Our Chain Of Command extended his Australian winning streak to seven and stormed into BIG6 Hunter Cup calculations with a stunning pillar-to-post win in Saturday night's $20,000 SKY Racing The Pure Steel at Bray Raceway, Ballarat.
In a performance eerily similar to that of fellow Trans-Tasman raider Bondy in the same race 12 months ago, the Lara based son of Julius Caesar stepped safely from outside the front line before leading his rivals a merry dance in the 2710-metre staying test.
The win was due justification for the heavy support the last start Group 1 winner had from punters state wide as he was backed from $3.90 in to $2.35 in fixed odds markets before starting at $2.20 on the pari-mutuel, But for gun young trainer Dean Braun it was merely a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
"There's no doubt that the Hunter Cup is going to be a very good race, with horses like Stunin Cullen who just broke the track record here, but that win tonight was just what we needed to know that we're on the right track to run the race of our lives," the star conditioner said after the race.
"It's a great feeling to know that my horse is going to be as good as he can be. He'll derive a lot of benefit from that run tonight and he'll definitely be in as good a shape as he's been since I've had him anyway."
After recording his only loss on Aussie soil in a stand-start affair, the major concern for the many who flocked to support Our Chain Of Command was that he step safely from the strands, but after appearing slightly unsettled in the moments leading up to the start, he pinged away once the tapes were released.
Easily able to spear across early leader Thats Mister, Chris Alford was content to amble through first half fractions of 31.2 and 31.9 seconds respectively on the race favourite before the fireworks began.
With chief rival Lets Slash An Burn looking him in the eye, and grand veteran Bold Cruiser emerging as a genuine threat three wide, Our Chain Of Command careered through a 28.2-second third section under his own steam before going into overdrive upon entering the lane.
Sizzling home like the very good horse Braun has always told us he is, the Tasmania Cup winner resisted late surges form Thats Mister Ali coming off his back and Tear It All Away emerging from three back the poles to win in a final fraction of 27.8.
The mile rate of 2:03.6 may have been slower than he'll need to record to win the Group 1 Hunter Cup in seven days time, but the margin of 1.6 metres was more than comfortable and after the gut-busting run his main rivals endured in the Ballarat Cup, Braun is hoping Our Chain Of Command could be the fresh horse on the scene at Tabcorp Park on February 5.
"I was actually cheering them on to go a little bit harder (in the Cup)," he laughed. "We'll take any favours we can get."
