By David Nagel
Pakenham trainer Bill Papazaharoudakis was breathing a big sigh of relief after his talented three-year-old gelding Dollar Chaser smashed his opposition at Cranbourne on Friday night.
It was just over 12 months ago that Papazaharoudakis thought highly enough of Dollar Chaser to run him in a $140,000 Listed race at Flemington on debut.
But that first campaign would prove fruitless, with the son of Reward for Effort/Dream Chaser running last at his first two starts.
But Papazaharoudakis never lost faith in his gelding, bringing him back to the track in August last year, and he’s been a model of consistency ever since.
Running placings in four of his next five starts, Dollar Chaser was primed for a first-up tilt in the $35,000 Maiden Plate (1000m) at Cranbourne.
Punched out of the gates by Damien Thornton, Dollar Chaser took the early lead and dictated terms from the front, kicking clear in the straight to win by five lengths
After a four-week freshen up, Papazaharoudakis was just glad that Dollar Chaser could finally put an end to his maiden status.
“He’s been running a few seconds so it was a bit hard to tip him, but anyway it was a good win,” Papazaharoudakis said.
“He always tries, and I’m always confident, but it’s been about breaking his maiden status…thank god it’s happened.”
Papazaharoudakis said making the move to the training facility at Pakenham had been a breath of fresh air, but did present some challenges.
“It’s all good, it’s been like starting again, 30 years ago, but it’s going good, we’re all happy, so hopefully things just roll along,” he said.
“We’ll just see how he (Dollar Chaser) goes and we’ll go from there.”
Thornton was impressed with Dollar Chaser, who gave him a good feel out of the gates.
“He was very quick out, did it easy, then gave a kick and they couldn’t catch him,” Thornton said.
“We beat them all out comfortably, and when you’re that fast out, and you’ve got no set plan going into it, you take advantage of it.
“He did it easy and did it like he’s going to win more races.”
