Westwood beach trainer Graeme Anderson came out on the good side of the ledger of racing's hard-luck stories at Forbury Park last night.
Racing is full of tales of what could have been, near misses and if onlys, but Bakari bucked that trend with his front-running win in race 2.
Anderson took over the training of Bakari ''about three weeks ago'' and realised there was something familiar about the horse.
''The irony was I tried to buy him at the sales. When I got him I said, 'hang on, I know something about this horse','' he said.
Bakari not only won his debut run for Anderson, he did it in dashing style in a sizzling time of 2.41.1 for the 2200m trip which defied the cool conditions.
''I like him. To go 2.41 around here tonight is amazing.''
Bakari led by as much as six lengths during the race as the 3yr-old travelled keenly for driver John Dunn.
''He can be a bit ignorant so I said 'if he's being a bit ignorant don't fight him'. He took me at my word I guess.''
Anderson intends to take a measured approach to the Bakari's immediate racing plans given he is such a big horse.
In a further coincidence, Bakari's win came in the Graeme Anderson Racing Stable Mobile Pace.
Southland trainer-driver Kirk Larsen produced Honey Cullen to win race 8 last night in vastly different circumstances. Honey Cullen was not the hard luck story or horse that got away - in fact, he is quite the opposite.
Larsen bought the horse as a yearling, later raced and then sold him, but kept Honey Cullen in his stable. Last night's win was the first for eight new owners, after his two earlier wins for Larsen.
While Honey Cullen has made a promising start to his career, notching three wins in six starts, Larsen thinks the horse's best form may come after he further develops physically.
''He's going to more of a next-year horse. We'll just keep pottering away and see how he develops.''
-By Jonny Turner
