[PHOTO: Western Racepix]
Mystery Bullet and Defending landed Pearce Racing and jockey Natasha Faithfull a winning double at Geraldton on Wednesday.
Shooting To Win three-year-old Mystery Bullet ($5.50) and stablemate Black Sands ($20) kicked off proceedings with a stable quinella in the TABtouch Maiden (1600m), with the former appearing in trouble before hitting the line strongly to break his maiden status.
Faithfull settled the gelding three-back on the fence from barrier two before working off the rail and the pair ran into a lot of traffic on straightening, however, she was able to extricate him into the clear and he finished powerfully over the final furlong to score by just over a half length.
Black Sands also made good late ground after getting held up in the straight to finish second, with Le Grand Jeu ($5.50) a further nose away in third place.
Later in the day, in-form gelding Defending ($2.60) brought up back-to-back wins at the Geraldton circuit when taking out the Courtney Keefe – Elders Real Estate Handicap (1100m) in nice fashion.
The Oratorio six-year-old was given the run of the race in the box seat by Faithfull before peeling into the clear turning for home and gobbled up well-supported favourite Golden Fighter ($2.25) over the late stages to win with more in hand.
The pair cleared out from the rest of the field, with Arabian Riches ($10) a further three-and-a-half lengths away in third place.
The all-ladies-owned Defending has now won six of his 24 career starts to date and is rapidly closing in on $200,000 in stake earnings and bonuses.
Co-trainers Daniel and Ben Pearce have prepared 57 winners for the 2023/24 season so far.
The stable will saddle-up The Good Harv and Fuel The Friar at Albany on Friday before Saturday’s bumper The Quokka and Karrakatta Plate meeting at Ascot where Blue Rocket, Let’s Galahvant, Ginger Baker and Play With Desire are engaged.