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Bridgetown is back for 2024, and on Sunday March 10, the club celebrated the first half of their two-meeting season, with the first meeting getting underway without a hitch, seeing seven fully supported races going ahead on the sunny afternoon in the southwest.
It may have been just over a year between wins, but the David Pybourne trained Skippin Class was all class in the opener, with Kyle Symington skipping away to win by 5.5m in the first.
The four-year-old has been knocking around in the placings in the past few months, but on Sunday he was able to bring up career win number four.
Matt Scott always has plenty of success around the country circuit and Sunday was no exception with the Serpentine based trainer walking away with a double on the day.
Tritttrittbangbang kicked off the festivities for the stable with a win in race two for driver Shannon Suvaljko.
The $1.36 favourite started from barrier one over the 784m trip galloping his way out from release point, Suvaljko was able to get the seven-year-old back down and pacing fairly quickly, settling behind the leader and the pair making their move down the back straight to win by a 7.9m margin.
Follow The Music made it a race-to-race double for the stable, with local owner Tim Blee on course to watch his consistent earner get the cash.
With his last win back in December 23 at Busselton in the 75th Anniversary Cup at Busselton, the son of Follow The Stars came from one-out-one-back to run down the leaders with a 2.1m margin on the line.
The win brought up the five-year-olds 10th career win in 78 starts, with his earnings sitting just $4,295 short of $100,000.
Ryan Eyre claimed his first driving win at Bridgetown back in 2022 and two years later he's back in the winner's circle where it all began with Beershebas Shadow getting the win at long odds in race four.
Starting at $31, the six-year-old son of Shadow Play began from barrier four over the 2190m trip, and after a quick look for the front, found himself briefly in the breeze before receiving cover from Bazaar Package, with Eyre biding his time until the 400m mark where he made his move three wide, coming home the better to win by 2m.
Aiden De Campo is no stranger to success and Sunday he ventured to Bridgetown with a team of three, walking away with a training double and a second placing from his three attempts.
$1.14 favourite Dourado saw De Campo claim honours in the Water Memorial over the 2190m standing start trip.
The four-year-old started off the 50m handicap and after blowing the start, had plenty of distance to make up, but class prevailed, and the Betting Line USA gelding came out on top by a very comfortable 12.4m margin in race five.
Race six went the way of Joey James for father and son duo Brad and Toby Lynn, with the seven0year-old appreciating the step down in class.
Racing predominantly in town of late, Joey James went into Sunday's race after a last start third placing at Pinjarra just six days earlier, coming from behind on Sunday to win by 1.3m at $7.50 odds.
De Campo rounded out the meeting with a winner, with Wheel Fast breaking through for his maiden win at just his second attempt.
Bred and owned by Stephen Woodcock, the double westbred son of Renaissance Man started as the short-priced $1.28 favourite, and after starting from barrier two, De Campo took no part in the early stages looking for the lead, instead making his way around gradually after around 400m, kicking away in the concluding stages to win by an impressive 18.4m.
Bridgetown returns on March 24 for their big one, the Bridgetown Cup.
