A GREAT start is crucial from the 450 metre start at Bathurst's Kennerson Park, as Lola Pepper showed in Monday's Zipping Garth @ Stud Maiden.
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Cowra trainer Frank Jeffcoat's outside shot Lola Pepper ($18) showed great speed in the first few strides and used that early speed to her advantage as she held onto her lead for the rest of the race.
Race favourite Testimony ($1.70, Greg Hore) showed the price you can pay for a poor start as the box one runner was squeezed out of the contest into last place.
Jeffocat said it was good to see Lola Pepper build on her previous start's runner-up finish.
"She ran second last week and now she's come back and won for me. She jumped really well and once she's in front she's hard to run down," he said.
Lola Pepper's start was more than just good - it was nearly a full length better than the next best runner.
She got across quickly to the rail and outside runner Little Peppa ($8) also made a great start from box eight to begin her pursuit.
Once she's in front she's hard to run down.
- Frank Jeffcoat
The rest of the field got bunched up on the bend and it gave the leading pair some breathing room.
Lola Pepper maintained a two length gap over Little Peppa through the run and the rest of the field continued to run over the top of one another, leading to a 10 length gap forming to the leaders.
Her winning time was 26.13.
In addition to his winner, Jeffcoat provided two runners-up at the Bathurst meeting in the form of Odee Pepper and Fergie Pepper, both litter mates of Lola Pepper.
All three dogs are the result of a mating between Hay Fergus and Morbell Betty.
Odee Pepper ($8.00) finished one and a half lengths second in the opening event at Bathurst, working hard from box eight to get one off the fence behind the Ray Bourke trained Albert Seiko before hanging on gamely from odds on pop Bethany, trained by Darren Sultana.
Fergie Pepper then rounded out the night for Frankcoat with a second, at just its fifth race start, as an odds on favourite in the Happy Birthday Zood Stakes over 307 metres.
From Box 1, Fergie Pepper ($1.75) was only fairly away, drifting back to midfield before a sustained effort saw her circle the field for a good second to the David Thornberry trained Little Trapeze ($9).