Andrew Sawden is a new name in the Bendigo training ranks and his first winner on home soil certainly turned heads last Sunday.
Sawden’s three-year-old Huge Action ($5.50) was able to take on the older horses at Bendigo and score, coming off placings in his own age group at his previous two starts at Sandown and Caulfield. 
The win was his second this campaign, with a first-up success at Terang preceding those city placings.
Ridden for speed by Luke Currie, the son of Moshe crossed from barrier 15 of 15 in the Cola Solar BM64 Handicap (1100m) and came away for a highly impressive three-quarter-length win over the useful Cranbourne galloper smart Pleasant ($2.70 favourite).
“He was underdone one month between runs at Caulfield but I freshened him up because he tries so hard that he takes a while to get over his runs,” Sawden told Winning Post this week.
The stable was given the dam, Todi, free of charge to breed with at the end of her racing career, and the daughter of Elvstroem is certainly making an impact.
Sawden also trained a full brother to Huge Action, Dimoshot, to win two races.
“(Huge Action) has always been quick, and to do all the work and win like he did … I think he’s going to be a black-type horse once he matures,” Sawden said.
“I’ve never had one this good.”
Huge Action will next be tested at Moonee Valley on June 2 in Heat 2 of the A.R. Creswick Series over 1200 metres.
Sawden moved to Bendigo this month from Drysdale with a team of eight horses and is training from on-course stabling facilities.
Rush home on debut
Brendon Hearps has a knack for finding a nice horse and getting them to perform at home and that’s exactly what happened when Auguster Rush ($7.50) scored on debut at Bendigo last Sunday.
The son of Dash for Cash upset the odds-on favourite Kiwi Showgirl, coming from the back half in the small field to let down strongly for a smart one-length victory.
Although he was kept safe in betting, the three-year-old’s win came as a surprise to Hearps, who said the horse hadn’t “shown much on the training track”.
Auguster Rush was ridden by Hearps’s good mate and fellow Bendigonian Brad Rawiller, who has ridden 33 winners for Hearps throughout their careers at an impressive 22-percent strike rate. 
Hearps paid $16,000 for the horse, whose dam is a half-sister to Hong Kong stakes winner Packing Winner.
Kitten is purring
Sutton Grange’s Brent Stanley saddled up valuable Northern Meteor mare Atomic Kitten for her third victory when she took out the $18,000 Kingsgate Village BM58 Handicap (1450m) at Kilmore last Thursday.
Resuming from a spell, the four-year-old was specked into $8 and extended her unbeaten run at Kilmore, where all three of her victories have come from as many attempts. 
Atomic Kitten settled midfield and did enough under Mitchell Aitken to hold off the challenge of Pria Eclipse. 
Aitken said post-race he had been travelling to Sutton Grange once a week to ride work — a commute that has resulted in four wins for the stable from just seven rides.
“She’ll win a city race this preparation over 2000 metres,” Stanley predicted.
A city win would be a valuable fillip for Atomic Kitten’s pedigree page as she is a full sister to rising stallion Fighting Sun, who won his only two races and stood the 2017 spring at a fee of $15,400 at Sun Stud.

‘Naughty’ but nice
Shaun Dwyer’s smart but sometimes erratic filly Miss Leonidas lived up to expectations and then some with a highly impressive victory in Heat 1 of the A.R. Creswick Series at Sportsbet-Ballarat on Wednesday.
After a pleasing, yet frustrating, first-up fifth at Ladbrokes Park two weeks earlier, it looked like her antics might cost the daughter of I Am Invincible again as she bombed the start at Ballarat.
Dwayne Dunn used her speed to recover quickly and led into the straight before opening up the engine. She strode away for a classy 3¼-length win.
Dunn described it as a “superb effort”, sentiments backed up by her trainer.
“She’s naughtier than my five kids, but she’s always had an enourmess amount of ability,” Dwyer told Racing.com.
The lightly raced filly has now won two of five starts. She will next head to Flemington on June 9 for Heat 3 of the same series.
Readers of this column will know I’ve long had a lot of time for this filly. I hope some of you snapped up the $8.
First joy for Janet
Earlier in the day at Ballarat, you couldn’t get the smile off Janet Wicks’s face after the stylish win from My Boy Greg. The win was Wicks’s first as a licensed trainer.
The talented son of Reward for Effort was first up from an enforced bleeding ban but started a $3 favourite in the City of Ballarat Maiden Plate (1200m) following a recent trial win at Tatura. 
With Damien Oliver aboard, the five-year-old produced a strong finish to run over over the top of fellow Bendigo galloper and $71 chance All About Mary for Shane Fliedner.
My Boy Greg had four placings from his nine previous starts including a third placing at Moonee Valley. 
My Boy Greg was named after Greg Willis, manager of Seymour’s Chatswood Stud, who bred and sold the horse.