The best is yet to come for Pinjarra Cup winner Vampiro, according to reinsman Colin Brown.
Vampiro capped off a tremendous campaign in yesterday’s $50,000 feature, which also included a win in the Village Kid Sprint and runner-up finishes in the TABtouch-WA Pacing Cup and Retravision-Fremantle Cup.
Brown worked his way to the front on the Greg and Skye Bond-trained pacer from barrier six and ran home in 55.4 to score by 4.5m over Im Full Of Excuses and Ideal Liner.
It was Brown’s second success in the Pinjarra Cup after Ima Rocket Star’s victory in 2013.
Brown said he was confident entering the Group 2 event given what he did over the summer months.
“He had come from bad barriers in the two major Cups over Christmas and did all the work to get to the front and he just got beaten in both of those,” he told TABradio.
“Although the field was a very nice field yesterday, I thought the Pacing Cup and Fremantle Cup were actually stronger fields.
“His last run was slightly disappointing before he got taken out of the race.
“I had a fair bit of faith in the people I was driving for, I knew Skye and Greg would have him right on the day.”
It was a second straight Pinjarra Cup win for team Bond after they won it last year with El Jacko.
That pacer finished fourth yesterday, while Ocean Ridge and Our Jimmy Johnstone were unplaced.
Brown said Vampiro was more than capable of matching it with some of the best horses in Australasia on the east coast and was confident he could travel east for feature races.
“Greg and Skye love to travel, they love the challenge,” he said.
“If I was Skye and Greg I definitely would (travel).
“I don’t think we have seen the best of him.
“If he went over there and raced against the better quality top liners and more of them, I really believe there’s another level he could go to.”
Meanwhile, Retravision-Fremantle Cup winner Caviar Star is set to spend 12 months on the sidelines after he sustained an injury to his near side tendon when fifth to Handsandwheels in the Governors Cup.
