Stawell trainer Andrew Bobbin reached the peak of Australian jumps racing last week when his tough ’chaser Duke Of Bedford ground his rivals into the Warrnambool turf with a resounding Grand Annual Steeplechase victory. 
The six-year-old son of Tavistock backed up his Brierly win 48 hours earlier, achieving a rare ’chasing double, the first horse to do so since the great Gold Medals in 2018. 
Under jockey Arron Lynch, the $3.70 favourite  led nearly every step of the 5500-metre journey, breaking the hearts of those behind him as he jumped freely out in front, the final margin of 12 lengths a fair reflection of his carnival of dominance. Well done, AB.
Trust in this Gust
Matt Laurie’s memorable autumn continued when his colt Diamond Gust ($4.60 favourite) took out this year’s Donald 2YO Classic, headlining a terrific card of racing last Saturday. 
The son of Toronado improved significantly on a moderate debut at Mornington a fortnight earlier, given a textbook ride by Adam McCabe to take the 1200-metre feature by 2½ lengths. 
Team Hayes filly Bella Pietra ($7) was a notable drifter in betting but controlled the race from the front, holding down second place but no match in the closing stages for the winner, who capitalised on a plum trail to win convincingly.
Follow these
There are two runners to follow from opposite ends of the program at Donald. 
Mitch Freedman’s three-year-old filly Velia ($6) was game in defeat in the opening event, the lone chaser behind even-money pop Eau De Cologne over 1620 metres. 
The Archie Alexander-trained winner opened up a huge lead by the 200m mark but Velia cut the margin to less than a length on the line, leaving a big gap back to the third-placed runner. 
Freedman’s daughter of Magna Grecia has been strong to the line in all three starts and a maiden win is only around the corner.
Fast forward to the last race, and veteran galloper Bon Shadow came from a hopeless position in the home straight to claim the runner-up prize, smashing the line and finding himself ahead of the winner soon after. 
The eight-year-old gelding had been racing in better company and back to 0-58 grade over 1000 metres looked ideal, but after settling rearward and still five lengths off them at the 100-metre mark, the task looked forlorn. 
In fact it was, but it was hard to ignore the closing effort of this son of Bon Hoffa, who must surely be close to breaking a run of outs stretching back to August 2023.
More to come
Plenty of racing action upcoming in the Wimmera, with Horsham picking up Stawell’s May 19 meeting, and Ararat back in action this Saturday.