It was a shock to many including Brooklyn Bandit's trainer but the colt was too strong on Friday night at Dubbo Showground to win Vale Joyce Copelin Memorial Race.
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Trained and driven by Jake Davis, Brooklyn Bandit ($31) drew barrier 10 for the race and looked an outside chance to place, let alone win.
Following the race, Davis said it was a deserving winner after the colt's recent strong form, especially at Dubbo.
"It was good, he's been pretty consistent," he said.
"It was a bit of a shock but it's good."
Brooklyn Bandit came into the race off the back of two wins from a previous five starts and Davis said the horse is starting to find some strong form.
"I took him to Bathurst but it's pretty tough down there," he said.
"I took him to Parkes and he got a win on Elvis night there. I think he is two from two at Dubbo which is good. He likes the littler tracks a bit more. When you draw (barrier) 10, you don't really expect much but he went well."
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The wide barrier draw was an obstacle for Davis and Brooklyn Bandit to overcome but the pair timed their last push to perfection.
Sitting at the rear of the pack for the majority of the race, Davis decided to put the foot down with just a lap to go and made up several positions on the back straight before coming around the final bend in second place.
Going toe-to-toe with Nathan Turnbull's Feeling Hall Good ($2.60), Brooklyn Bandit kicked away over the dying stages of the race to take the win.
While making up ground late looked spectacular, Davis admitted it wasn't the plan going into the race.
"Not really, I jumped on Matty Rue's back," he said.
"He was a good one to follow but we got ran three-wide the entire race and was sort of in Matty's road.
"I had to make the decision to cut him loose up the back (straight) and he ran on well.
"He fought on with Nathan (Turnbull) and we had a bit of fun there."
Brooklyn Bandit's win was surprising for some but Davis was especially pleased to see the colt's speed late in the race, even after doing a lot of work to cut through the field.
"He did because I didn't have to use him early, we just saved him for that one run," he said.
"I was pretty happy with how he sprinted up actually."
In the other races of the night, Josh and Nathan Turnbull combined to take out the TAB Long May We Play Pace (1720m) with Just Won More winning by more than a length.
Christiano Rose ($2.60) was way too good for the rest of the field in the Blue's Meats Dubbo Pace (1720m), winning by almost 15 lengths for trainer Kevin Medlyn.
Lucky Nutter ($18) also shocked some to take out the Neil Burrell Painting Pace (2120m) with Wendy and Emma Turnbull combining on the mare, with Marmitta ($4.20) finishing in second.
Medlyn picked up another win later in the night with Whataboutbronson while John O'Shea and Peter Wright also had wins.
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