WHEN favourite Sir Brigadoon almost took out The Handsome One at the start of Wednesday night's opening race at Bathurst Paceway it threatened to bring Mitch Turnbull's winning hopes to a quick end.
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However, Turnbull and the Darrell Dwyer-trained The Handsome One were able to not only avoid breaking stride for a prolonged period of time but he would go on to take out the George Corones' Funeral 14 July Pace (2,260 metres).
The Handsome One ($12) flashed down the outside of the track to beat Presidential Dude ($13, Justin Reynolds), who came within a neck of leading the race from start to finish.
Seeing a favourite gallop at the start of a race will usually give the rest of the field an extra bit of confidence, but when you're on the horse directly behind the favourite it's not such a fun experience.
When that happened to Turnbull on Wednesday he thought his race might have been over.
"He checked me and made me gallop for a bit, so I was actually a bit disappointed to see the favourite do that," he said.
"I was able to not get too far away from the field and my horse relaxed after that. I pulled him up gradually and he travelled sweet.
"I reckon I would have settled about midfield in the running line and had he done that, with the way the race was run, he probably would have won it by even further but as it panned out it came down to the horse's ability and his fight."
Turnbull had previously driven The Handsome One on six occasions without finding a win.
He came close last month with a runner-up finish at Parkes.
"We went really good at Parkes last time I drove him and he came second," he said.
"Darrell Dwyer this year has had an awesome strike rate. He's had that many winners and placings, it feels like he's had more horses place than miss out on a top three finish this year."
It was a big night at Bathurst for Nathan Turnbull who won three of his five drives on the night and finished runner-up in another.
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