Keayang Bazooka boom

When Horsham horsemen Aaron Dunn and Steve Blacker decided to shell out some of their hard earned cash and buy a four-year-old gelding with six starts under the belt, one doubts if they quite expected to reap the rewards of the past 12 weeks.

Keayang Bazooka had shown some ability for the powerful Marg Lee stable before being advertised, with six starts and an all-the-way victory in restricted company, but a decision was made to move the horse on.

And so, just 10 days after finishing fourth as an odds-on-favourite at Hamilton, Keayang Bazooka stepped out more than 550 kilometres away from his old stamping ground to contest a C0 2190-metre contest at Mildura for trainer Barry Dunn and his new co-owners.

That afternoon the gelded son of Sportswriter USA and Deltas Dream sat outside the leader and made an ordinary lot look even more ordinary with an 11-metre victory in moderate time.

Nevertheless, as they say, ‘the money’s the same whatever…’ and the winner’s cheque of $3990 and a $3500 Vicbred Bonus would have made for an enjoyable trip back home for Steve, Barry and Aaron.

Keayang Bazooka followed up three weeks later with another win at the same track and a combination of growing confidence, a change of scenery and being well placed has seen the pacer steadily progress through the grades.

The team’s latest success came on Friday at Mildura in a $7000 C2-4 Pace over the sprint trip of 1790 metres.

Drawn out in gate five, Keayang Bazooka raced wide early before Dunn worked his charge forward to occupy the spot outside the leader.

From there he dictated a moderate mid-race tempo of 64.5 seconds then raised the bar with final splits in 28.8 and 28.7 to salute by a halflength at the finish.

The Dunn and Blacker combo have to-date, sent their ‘bargain buy’ around for 13 starts for five wins, five seconds, one third, $27,350 in stakes plus their Vicbred bonus makes a bank of $30,850 – reason to smile anywhere, anytime.

“This is the first one I’ve ever raced that we didn’t breed or buy at the yearling sales,” Aaron said. “I probably should have tried it sooner.” It’s Hot To Trot in Horsham tomorrow, Hamilton on July 12 and Stawell, The Maori Legend, July 18.