DOUBLE FOR MACRAE AT IPSWICH

Ron Macrae was a happy man at Ipswich yesterday.

The Toowoomba based trainer combined with young apprentice Cameron Dixon to secure a double at the meeting, winning with the promising Bonza Bronze before taking out the day’s feature event with the ever-consistent West Of Hollywood.

Dixon was superb on both mounts. He produced Bonza Bronze with perfect timing to seal victory late in the running in an 800m dash and then he showed how to overcome the disadvantages of a bad draw while still leaving something in the tank as he got West Of Hollywood to kick on late to land an overdue success in the Ipswich RSL Legacy Cup.

This was Dixon’s second TAB double. His first double came at Toowoomba.

For Macrae, Bonza Bronze’s win brought bitter-sweet emotions. It evoked the memory of that tragic day in June last year when Macrae’s smart colt Bonza Crop crashed to the turf and had to be euthanized.

The loss of Bonza Crop devastated both Macrae and the colt’s owners but they continued to move forward and, with only one change in the list of owners, they all shared in Bonza Bronze’s Maiden success yesterday.

“If he could be anywhere near as good as Bonza Crop I would be every happy,” said Macrae.
Bonza Bronze was winning at only his third time of asking and had featured in the betting in both of his previous starts.

“I thought he would win last time,” said Macrae, talking about the run on the cushion track at the Sunshine Coast where Bonza Bronze trailed in a distance sixteen lengths behind the winner.

“He came back shin sore there though,” continued Macrae. “In fact I’ve had a few problems with him being shin sore. So I’ve been struggling with him a bit. But today he put it all together.

“I’m going to give him a spell now. It’s nice to be able to do that with a win behind you.

“I would expect him to come back a lot better and a lot stronger,” warned Macrae.

Macrae was equally pleased with the win of West Of Hollywood.

“I was very worried about the draw,” admitted Macrae, “but the youngster (Dixon) did a great job."

It was West Of Hollywood’s third win from eleven starts and the fact that she also has four runner-up finishes to her credit underlines her consistency.

In fact West Of Hollywood has finished in the first two placings on all but one occasion in her six starts this year – and that was when she was ‘in season’.

West Of Hollywood’s recent run of runner-up finishes includes races in which she was beaten by She’s In The Guide and Hirsute, both above average performers on their day.

That West Of Honour, even allowing for the draw, was allowed to start at the odds she did was perhaps the only mystery of the race.

All the more for Macrae to smile about!