A round trip in excess of 12 hours proved well worth it for Melissa and Jenny Fullerton as Elite Blazer claimed their first city win in five years on Thursday at Sandown Park.
Elite Blazer, or ‘Charlie’ as he’s known, began moderately then accelerated to clear the field early. He held off Mystic Moment to win by less than a length at mammoth odds of $32.
While the market’s expectations were limited it wasn’t the same belief of the Fullerton camp who knew he was capable of winning, despite it being his first look at the track.
“We left at 8am this morning and got here at 3.30pm. It is a long trip but you only get out what you put in,” said Jenny Fullerton, mother of trainer Melissa Fullerton.
While the ladies were on the tools trackside husband and father Barry Fullerton, as well as brother Shawn were back at their Red Cliffs base – 16km south of Mildura and 544km north-west of Melbourne.
The last city win for the family was with star sprinter Jimmy Newob back in November 2017 – a prelude of the Melbourne Cup.
“It’s been a long time between drinks, dad is tickled pink.”
The family also own and bred Elite Blazer who was produced by Quick Kisses, also bred by the Fullerton’s and was a winner at Sandown Park in 2014.
“This litter is a really smart one, we’ve got 9 of them and they’re going really well – we want to bring them here. We’ll be coming down a lot more often, between here and The Meadows.”
The family have since purchased two slots for the $530,000 Launching Pad series – not long before they sold out on Friday afternoon. They have earmarked Elite Blazer and Show The Magic for the series.
