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Sport Nation
All Blacks squad named Monday 12pmBack Of The Bus finishes head of the queue at Ellerslie
Kevin Robertson, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • June 20th, 2026 3:41 pm
Back Of The Bus winning at Ellerslie. Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Cambridge trainer Tony Pike will be enjoying a mid-winter holiday even more after promising juvenile Back Of The Bus showed plenty of courage to head off a swarm of challengers in the Ellerslie home straight when taking out the Lawn Shed Winter Series – 2YO Final (1200m) on Saturday.
The daughter of Hello Youmzain made good use of her recent raceday experience as she relaxed nicely outside pacemaker Tardis in a moderately run affair, before assuming control of proceedings shortly after straightening.
Tardis wasn’t giving up without a fight, however, once rider Jasmine Fawcett got to work on Back Of The Bus she found a good kick to hold out the fast finishing Russian Prime and Tardis by a head at the winning post.
Stable representative Ryan Stacey was delighted to see the filly post her first win at just her third raceday start, having finished fourth behind Tardis at her previous run, with Saturday’s winning performance coming on a Soft 5 surface, which he felt may have been a little firm for her.
“She has improved from run to run, although to be honest we thought we might see the best of her on a wet track,” Stacey said.
“Today we just told Jasmine to be positive, she got her into a beautiful rhythm, and she whacked away really well.
“We did have confidence as she had the raceday experience and had been improving from run to run.”
Stacey had mixed emotions on the stable’s other two runners with Pellargo finishing off nicely for fifth, however, race favourite Intan missed away at the start and never looked a factor as she dropped away in the home straight to finish a long last.
“He (Pellargo) is a work in progress at present and we applied the blinkers which seemed to get him to travel a little better,” he said. “He will be a nice horse going forward.
“I’m not sure what happened to Intan, but she has done it all in one prep so may go out (to spell) now, while Pellargo may also go for a break.
“Back Of The Bus could go to Ruakaka next if she keeps improving.”
Fawcett was pleased with how the race panned out as she was able to get Back Of The Bus a breather at a crucial stage, which made a big difference to the result.
“She got a breather mid-race and balanced up nicely around the corner,” she said. “When I asked for an effort she gave it to me.
“She is very basic, very straight forward and I think Tony (Pike) has done a really good job with her.”
Back Of The Bus is out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Luce Del Sole and was purchased by Pike for $25,000 during the National Online Yearling Sale on Gavelhouse Plus in April last year. Her dam is a half-sister to Witz End, who ran second in the 2024 Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) when trained
by Pike before transferring to Terri Rae in Christchurch where he has subsequently won the Listed Hazlett Stakes (1400m).
