SWAGGIE Shannon was staring down the barrel of three straight runner-up results but at Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday night he made sure he put the rest of the field behind him.
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Kylie Barnes drove Swaggie Shannon ($11.50) past favourite Grand Anse ($3.10) on the turn for home in the Hynash Constructions Pace (1,730 metres) and sprinted away to a fifth career win.
In his last start Swaggie Shannon produced a similar late dash to the line but couldn’t overcome former Gold Crown finalist Machamillion.
This time no-one stood in the way of the Peter Bullock-trained gelding.
The pace was on in the early stages during a small scrap for the lead.
Grand Anse came across from gate six to take up the running. Alpha Styx almost managed to get in behind the leader but Swaggie Shannon had enough early speed to hold the spot behind the favourite.
That’s the way things remained until the turn for home as Alpha Styx began to fade out of the hunt.
His demise opened the way for Swaggie Shannon to pull to the outside and challenge Grand Anse.
A two-horse battle didn’t unfold as the Bullock runner blitzed by Amanda Turnbull’s favourite with ease.
The winning mile rate was 1:56.9, the quickest time of any race at Wednesday’s meeting.
Swaggie Shannon’s success snapped a winless run going back to October last year.
Snoop Stride ($45.70) finished strongly to claim the runner-up spot 6.1m away.
Fire Up Franco ($5.30) pipped Grand Anse for the final placing.
“Around the back I was confident and felt I had the race,” Barnes said.
“The horse in front of me was under the whip a little bit.
“The closer to the front he is, the better. If he sits back in the field and they run along he can still hit the line. It depends how fast they go. He really likes to run along.
Barnes was a little uncertain whether Swaggie Shannon could take up the running from the inside gate.
“There were a couple of horses there who had a little bit of gate speed so we thought we might be three fence at worst. We didn’t know where we’d come out of the gates but where we were was good,” she said.
“His run last week gave me a bit of confidence. I didn’t know how quick they would go last week but they went the exact same time.”
Dennis Picker had the best night of all trainers at Wednesday’s meeting, picking up two winners.
Elle Yeah ($3.80) won the Tab.com.au Three Year Old Fillies Pace and Rave On Rabbits ($4.10) won the Lexus of Dubbo Three Year Old Pace.
The region’s next meeting is at Forbes on Sunday afternoon.
