It's not often a winning trainer wishes their horse had to work harder on their way to victory but that was the case for Barry Lew on trainer.
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Lew took out the day's final event at his home track of Dubbo Paceway on Sunday and did so in style as Great Presence scored another commanding win early in his career.
Great Presence never really broke a sweat when winning the Peak Hill Community Local Pace (2120m) by more than 15m and while undoubtedly pleased to see the gelding take his record to four wins and two placings from seven starts, Lew would like to see him tested so can get a proper read on his promising pacer.
"It was a handy win," he said.
"He lopes along in front. I'd rather see them get up and attack him a bit and put some pressure on him but he's not a bad little pony.
"We're having a bit of fun with him. He ran a sixth and that blotted his record a bit but he didn't handle the track at Forbes that day."
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A leap up in grade is now expected so Lew can see what Great Presence is exactly capable of and the Cowra Cup on June 20 could be just the event for the Dubbo trainer.
"I don't want to just put him in ordinary races if I can help it," Lew said.
"I've worked him at home a few times with other horses and in front he just idles along and does nothing and then something comes out from behind him and moves alongside and he grabs the chew and away he goes.
"I'll start to step him up and find out how good he can go. He's got a lot of improvement but I've got to step him up and find that out. I'll probably put him up a few grades ... where they're going to come and attack him and we'll see what happens."
John O'Shea drove Great Presence ($1.35) from in front for virtually the entire race on Sunday and after setting a slow pace up front he was able to kick clear at the top of the back straight on the bell lap.
He went on to win by 15.1m in a mile-rate of 2:02:7 from Why Nott ($23) and Milliondollarlill ($51).
Great Presence was Lew's only hope in during the Peak Hill community meeting Sunday and the win came after Mat Rue had dominated much of the day.
The Bathurst trainer-driver finished with a winning treble with one of the victories coming in the Remembering AD Turnbull Pace (1720m), run in honour of the patriarch of the famed family who died late last month.
Rue took out the event with $2.70 favourite Classical Music.
"Obviously it was extra special winning that, he was just a legend and a stalwart of the game," Rue said.
"Obviously I'm a lot closer to Steve and his grandkids than I was with him, but what a legacy."
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