Captain Proud, named by some as "just a Busselton horse" or "a battler from Busselton", ventured out to Bunbury on Saturday night in a stand full of well performed pacers.
Starting off 40 metres with favourite and New Zealand import Mighty Santana and recent Northam Cup winner Major Rush, it was certainly a jump up in class and he was sent out at good odds of $14.
With the two favourites in a speed battle early the Kym Neal trained nine year old settled worse than middle field, but driven by Cory Patterson he made his move with 600m to run, darting through the field to grab the favourites and score, pulling away from his rivals by 6.6m.
Captain Proud is in career best form with three wins and four placings from eight starts this season.
Another in the Busselton battler club would be Budd Sidewinder. He stepped in at Collie on Sunday in a stand from trainer Michael Callegari and reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green.
Starting off 20m he landed midfield in the run and up the straight had a good battle with eventual winner Tactile Sensation when finishing half a length away in second. Budd's season has been great also, with four wins and two seconds from 10 starts.
Busselton Cup winner Rum Delight continued to impress on the country scene when taking out the main race on the Collie program, the Joe and Margaret Suvaljko memorial. Rated well in form the Ryan Bell trained, Deni Roberts driven gelding was able to hold off all challengers, defeating Cut Above by half a length.
Euphoric Moment, who is a three year old blessed with unlimited talent but can be somewhat wayward, showed both sides to onlookers on Sunday. Looking to have to race in his keepings, with 300m to run the enigmatic youngster made a dash for the gate to the stalls, turning for home; but under the guidance of reinsman Kyle Harper he straightened the Errol Ashcroft pacer up and dashed clear of his rivals to salute by 17m. Sammys Ideal from Busselton ran on strong to finish third.
