Aldebaran Sundown gets up at big odds

Aldebaran Sundown was a dark horse yesterday at Pinjarra when he took the win in the first at big odds, pulling away by 11.5m in a winning mile rate of 2:02:0 over 2185m mobile start.

Starting at $41, the seven-year-old has done his fair share of things wrong in the past, but on his best behaviour on Monday, the Nigel Johns trained square gaiter settled in the one-out-one-back position after beginning nicely from barrier seven on the front line.

There were plenty of others in the race doing things wrong in the opener, but with Aldebaran Sundown doing everything right, Johns made his way three wide with 400m to go, with a strong win for the stable.

Stable representative Deb Woodley made mention that Johns was quietly confident during his warmup as the horse felt fantastic, with yesterday's win showing the stable that he has more to give.

"He has so much ability but has just as many quirks." Joked his owner, Paul Demicoli.

Owned by eastern states-based Paul Demicoli, Johns now has quite a few of Demicoli's horses in his stable, including Grand majestic Bells who got her first win on the board back in May this year. She's only had the two starts since, and last trialled at Pinjarra at the start of July.

Grand Majestic Bells is currently on spell as the big trip to the west and long preparation is hard work for young trotters.

Johns isn't one to shy away from a challenge, and he's been thrown plenty of them with his trotters, often having one or two in his stable at a time with a few extra quirks to keep him on his toes.

It's been a great weekend of racing for the Johns stable, with Luvaflair taking out the trotters' event on Friday night at Gloucester Park.

The race favourite, Bromwich galloped once again after taking on Sky Eagle soon after release point for the lead, but unlike his previous indiscretions, Hall Jnr was able to get him down and trotting relatively quickly, but it wasn't his night, with Luvaflair coming home boldly for Nigel Johns to win by 2m on the line.

The win gave the five-year-old her 15th career victory, with her form line an impressive one over the past seven months.


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