KEY POINTS:
Course Specialist Bonjour struck further black type glory for Otaki trainer Karen Zimmerman after narrowly winning the $100,000 Metric Mile at Awapuni yesterday.
Bonjour clearly saves his best for the left-handed racetrack something punters were well aware of, backing the 7-year-old into second favouritism for the Group Three feature.
A patient ride by Chris Johnson clinched a narrow but impressive victory for the Frenchpark gelding, who stayed away from the early speed war ignited by topweight Sir Slick.
Johnson pulled Bonjour out into the middle of the track in the home stretch and quickly reeled in Sir Slick before lasting to win by a neck from a fast-finishing Floydeboy.
A further half-length away third was Spin Around. Sir Slick faded late to finish seventh; but was only two lengths from the winner.
Having a record of seven wins and two minor placings from 12 starts at Awapuni, Bonjour should prove worth following whenever competing at Palmerston North.
Although he had finished ninth in his last start, that was in weight-for-age company over 1400m at Hastings, behind top-class mare Seachange. The drop back to handicap racing brought about the expected form reversal.
Zimmerman will now take Bonjour to Matamata on October 13 for the Matamata Cup.
Wayne Hillis had no concerns taking stable favourite Dezigna straight to the racetrack without the benefit of a lead-up trial, heading into the feature sprint at Ruakaka yesterday.
The Matamata-based Hillis trains the consistent 8-year-old in partnership with his wife Vanessa and was overjoyed by the fresh-up winning performance produced in the $30,000 Spring Plate.
Dezigna carried the topweight of 59.5kg to victory in the 1200m sprint event, an outstanding performance considering he had not raced since an unplaced effort in the Singapore International Cup on May 20.
"The horse goes well fresh and he had had plenty of work and I thought he would go a handy race," said Hillis.
"We were stuck in Singapore for a further 10 days after he last raced because of transport problems and then we had three weeks in quarantine in Australia before arriving back in New Zealand."
Hillis said the horse had a couple of weeks off before they started his preparation for Ruakaka.
"I just marvel at the race record this fella has compiled."
Dezigna sat well off the pace before unleashing a blistering sprint down the outer of the track in the home stretch to win by 1 1/4 lengths over the solid finishing Black Panther, with a neck back to Tenjuberrymud.
Dezigna will next race on Kelt Capital Stakes day at Hastings on October 6 in the Kelt Memorial.
"That race will fit in nicely with everything we have planned for him then we'll go to Trentham for the Captain Cook Stakes," Hillis said.
