PUNTURA TAKES NO PRISONERS - STRIKES AT 20-1

By Graham Potter | Saturday, July 2, 2022

The Barry Baldwin trained Puntura and jockey Mark Du Plessis took no prisoners in the last race on the card on Caloundra Cup day at the Sunshine Coast on July 2.

The four-year-old gelding put daylight between himself and the opposition, blowing many punters out of the water when saluting at a starting price of $21 in a BM78 Handicap over 1400m.

It was just never a serious contest once the New Zealand bred son of Our Vespa was asked to fully stretch out halfway up the straight.

Puntura landed in then leading line and then settled in second place, just under two lengths behind the $21 outsider Broken Hero who headed the field early.

Broken Hero was still the leader in the sweep to the home turn, but Du Plessis now had Puntura only a length back and, once the field straightened, Puntura quickly dispatched Broken Hero, who tried to kick … but to no avail.

Several other runners … most notably Glitter Strip ($5), Sneak Preview ($12) and The Ritz ($16) … were now also all improving as they changed gears and started to run on well from behind, but Puntura’s prowess had been roundly underestimated though, and he was off and gone by the 200m to the degree that the others were left only chasing for the minor placings with as much as 200m still left to run … such was Puntura’s dominance over the concluding stages.

This was Du Plessis’s second win on Puntura with the rider having previously scored on Puntura, interesting enough, over the same track and distance four runs back … and it was Puntura’s sixth start (for those two wins) for Barry Baldwin since he transferred from trainer Robbie Patterson.

Puntura had nine runs for Patterson in New Zealand which included an impressive run of four successive wins.

Puntura’s overall race record now stands at an impressive six wins from fifteen starts. Chances are there will be nothing like $20 on offer when he makes his next appearance!

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