Ex-WA galloper Devoted to continue Melbourne campaign for new connections

Owner Luke Fernie has been excited by his new acquisition Devoted’s hunger for racing since joining the stable of the Hayes brothers and is in no hurry to bring the chestnut back to WA. Devoted whizzed home for a fast-finishing second to Gentlemen Roy at his first race appearance for his new connections on August 3, banking a $27,000 cheque after their $105,000 outlay to purchase the gelding. The performance immediately raised questions of Devoted, already a 1600m Listed winner at Belmont, returning to the West for a tilt at the $1.5 million Railway Stakes on November 23. However, Fernie prefers to take one step at a time with the tried six-year-old. “The boys (Hayes brothers) were leaning towards going to 1600m this weekend instead of 1400m,” Fernie said. “He worked with Mr Brightside at Moonee Valley this morning (Tuesday) and his work was good. “I leave everything up to them to sort out, but we’ve got no real set plan. “He could end up back here for our carnival but while he’s going well over there, there’s no point leaving.” Despite being freshened when leaving John Leek Jnr’s stables, Fernie said he was conscious of Devoted having a long campaign and his existing targets being lucrative enough with benchmark 100 races being worth $150,000. “We don’t want to over-tax him and that’s in the back of our mind,” Fernie said. “If he can keep winning or being competitive over there, it’s a good result. “He only rates 90, so he gets in well in the benchmark 100 races. “They have professionals doing the programming, so I trust them to get it right.” Fernie will take a team of three horses to Pinjarra Park on Wednesday, with Swindle the Dough ($7.50 on TABtouch), Desert Whisper ($2.50) and Bravo Centurion ($1.70) all engaged. “Desert Whisper and Bravo Centurion will be hard to beat,” Fernie said. Bravo Centurion, an imposing and physical type, blasted forward last start to lead after 600m and showcased a taking turn of foot to romp clear over the final 200m to score by three-and-a-half lengths. Desert Whisper, in the same race, fleetingly looked a threat with 300m to go and while proving no threat to her stablemate, still beat the rest by two lengths. Fernie’s stable stars Ripcord and Wild Belle have also returned to his care as they plot a course towards rich interstate targets. “They came back to me last week and they’re only doing even time, but they’re really well and haven’t put a foot wrong,” Fernie said. + Acromantula, who finished a lacklustre last at Moonee Valley on Saturday, was vetted and scoped after the run and has been cleared of any abnormalities. He will jumpout at Pakenham next week to assess whether the speedster lines up for a Carlyon Stakes defense.