SCOTT HAMILTON | IMAGES (C) PACEPIX – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A short-priced favourite with a backstory full of setbacks, Benoa Bay justified the hype at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night, breaking through for his first win at just his second career start for trainer-breeders Ron Huston and Vicki Lea.
Sent out at $1.18, the result may have looked a formality on paper, but the race itself told a slightly different story. The two-year-old gelding showed his inexperience early, racing roughly in the score-up and forcing driver Shannon Suvaljko to steady and balance him at the start. Once the gate released, Suvaljko was able to use barrier one to advantage, holding the lead and gradually bringing him under control.
From there, the race was never in doubt. Suvaljko rated him evenly through a modest 2:01.3 mile rate, before letting him slide approaching the home turn. Benoa Bay responded sharply, sprinting home in 27.0 seconds for his final 400 metres to put the race away with authority.
It was a controlled performance, but one that showed the raw speed Huston and Lea has long believed was there.
That belief has been tested.
Benoa Bay is a homebred by Always B Miki, out of Group 1 winner Benesari Lane, a mare who earned more than $140,000 from 31 starts and produced one of the great upsets in the Group 1 WA Oaks when she saluted at nearly 100/1. The contrast with her son’s starting price on Friday night could not have been more stark.
Despite the pedigree, the colt was offered at the Perth Yearling Sale but failed to reach a modest $35,000 reserve, prompting Huston and Lea to keep and race him themselves. It proved a different story for others by the same sire, with Always B Miki yearlings fetching as much as $120,000 at the same sale.
Benoa Bay’s early career has also been far from smooth.
The colt was being aimed at the rich Sales Classic series before a trackwork incident at Byford ended that campaign before it began. During the session, he tipped Vicki Lea from the cart, injuring her arm, before destroying the sulky and bolting for close to half an hour around the training complex. The incident ruled him out of the feature series, a setback Huston still believes cost the colt a genuine opportunity.
“He’s fast, this horse. He’ll rocket around Gloucester Park if you let him go,” Huston said after the win.
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“We missed the sales race when he tipped Vicki out, he smashed her up and the cart then spent 30 minutes going off, running around everywhere. He would have gone close in those races if he started.”
There was also a sense of irony in the ownership story.
“We tried to sell him but no one wanted him; but no one wanted Benesari Lane either.”
His debut effort at Pinjarra suggested ability, finishing second from barrier four after making up strong ground over the final lap in good time, and Tuesday night’s win confirmed that promise.
Still learning and not without his quirks, Benoa Bay shapes as a colt with upside. For Huston and Lea, the forced decision to keep the horse is already looking like a blessing in disguise!
