After being close-up many times, Vandemonian has finally broken through for his maiden WA win with a fighting victory at Pinjarra over 1000m on Anzac Day. Beautifully ridden by regular jockey Peter Knuckey, the Starcraft gelding had to be stoked up to get towards the better going out wide down the straight and after being clearly headed with 50m to go, he fought back in true Anzac spirit to get up on the line.
Vanders has been a little disappointing since he came West after his maiden win in Newcastle, however, the effort to fight back was a great change in attitude and augurs well for him in future starts.