Wez Hunter Stable On Fire With Bel Thor

Saturday, 09 November 2013 02:59

With only a few horses in work, Wez Hunter has surpassed a lot of bigger stables with two wins from his only two runners during Cup Week.

Last Saturday Smokin' Joey won the Tab.com.au Stakes at Group 3 level and today the Hunter trained Bel Thor was successful in the Antler Luggage Handicap. In fact Hunter has won with the last four horses he has saddled up with Our Smokin' Rock winning at Tatura and Sale.

Bel Thor

"It's been a massive week, we're flying and it's great", an elated Hunter said.

In today's race Bel Thor ($3.50-$3.90-$3.70F) went one better than he did at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day, winning convincingly by 2¼ lengths from Keep Cool ($12-$13-$11) with three quarters of a length to Supremacy.

"He really deserves this win because before today he hadn't won a race in town but he's won over $100,000 and there were a few people knocking him but he'd been a bit stiff", said Hunter.

"I couldn't time it any better and it's a huge thrill."

Bel Thor

Winning rider Ben Melham said:

"I thought the speed would be genuine and he's a horse that races best at 2000m when he can get up behind them for as long as he can."

"He's got a good, sharp turn of foot but it's not for long so I was happy to keep held up into the straight and when he let down he let down good."

Bel Thor

Hunter has trained Bel Thor for all of his 20 starts for three wins and nearly $200,000 in prizemoney.

"We've had him from day dot and it's really satisfying for this horse to put them away like that", he said.

"We've had a good opinion of him from day dot and he's raced out of his class a lot and he's raced all the way through bar a couple of ordinary runs in South Australia."

Photos: Fiona Tomlin