Up-and-coming star Papinik made a triumphant return to racing after a nine-month absence when Chris Voak drove him to a superb all-the-way victory in the 2130m Retravision, For All The Electrical Stuff You Love Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The WA-bred five-year-old, favourite at $1.20, gave his rivals no chance by setting a sparkling pace and sprinting over the final four quarters in 28.9sec., 28.7sec., 28.7sec. and 27.6sec. to win at a 1.54.5 rate by seven and a half lengths from $23 chance Valentines Brook, who surged home from tenth at the bell.
This was Papinik’s eighth win in a row and his ninth win from only 11 starts.
“You can’t be much more impressive than that,” said trainer Ross Olivieri. “But we have no big-race plans for him at this stage. You can’t throw him in at the deep end after only 11 starts. The best thing is to give him the chance to work his way through the classes.”
Papinik, by Advance Attack, is the ninth foal out of Artists Impression and he is a half-brother to the well-performed Heez On Fire, who had 52 starts for 20 wins, eight placings and stakes of $287,607.
Heez On Fire won the Group 1 Westbred Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings in June 2012, finished third behind Nowitzki in the Golden Nugget in December 2013 and won the group 2 San Simeon Pace in January 20124.
By Ken Casellas
