ASTRONOMITE made a very impressive debut in the Belhus colours when winning the final event at Belmont Park on Saturday by a widening length and a quarter..
Purchased at the recent Magic Millions mixed bloodstock sale in Perth for just $16,000, new trainer Martin Allan has obviously done a great job producing this horse to be able to win first up for his stable. As Martin said in a post race interview, ‘it wasn’t a case of having to improve the horse as we all knew he went good. It was just a case of getting him back to his best’. Jumping from the inside barrier, Astronomite was given the run of the race by jockey Jarrod Noske who had him sitting just behind the leaders, never spending a penny, until an effort was asked for at the top of the straight, and then it was ‘Wooshka’ and he ended up winning comfortably.
Astronomite won a bit over twice his purchase price back straight away for his new owners who were quick to snap up a bargain. ‘I’m living the dream for eight hundred bucks-I can’t believe it’ said one of the owners at the track on Saturday, whilst another didn’t even go home after the races preferring instead to book in at the nearby Crown Casino for the night!
All being well, the $100,000 Coolgardie Cup on September 3rd beckons for Astronomite after another run back at Belmont Park between now and then…
Peter Morley