HELLO PUNTERS CLAIMS AN OVERDUE WIN

By Graham Potter | Saturday, April 4, 2026

Nobody could argue with the fact that Hello Punters was due for a win when he did cross that threshold and claim his first career victory in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1000m at the Gold Coast on April 4.

While the win only arrived in his eighth start, the three results posted by the son of Rothesay leading into this Gold Coast assignment told a story … three successive runner-up finishes at three different tracks suggested he was ready to go one better.

As far as the betting was concerned though, it looked like Hello Punters might once again have to settle for second spot at best, as the Tony Gollan trained Cardonette was all the rage in the market here jumping at a starting price of $1.75, leaving Hello Punters out at easy to back odds of $6.50 … still good enough to be the second favourite.

The betting effective made it a two horse race … and they got that right, but in the wrong order.

Brandon Lerena had Hello Punters in midfield, in fifth place, caught three wide in the first half of the race. At that time, Cardonette raced a further three lengths adrift of Hello Punters towards the rear of the field.

Lerena pushed Hello Punters forward in the approach to the home turn, still racing three wide, and the Sears trained runner did so with enough gusto that he had joined the leading line on straightening, and he continued his run to claim the outright lead early in the home straight.

Hello Punters only had one problem. Cardonette, under apprentice Leah Martyn, had tracked Hello Punters every move in the approach to the turn, and was now perfectly poised to challenge as the race came down to the business end of affairs.

While Hello Punters did steal a couple of lengths advantage over Cardonette in the early part of the straight, halfway down the straight Cardonette appeared to find an extra gear and now looked likely to go right past Hello Punters … but Lerena and Hello Punters had other ideas.

They found a kick of their own to put the pressure back on Cardonette who suddenly was struggling to bridge the gap and, with Hello Punters maintaining his stout effort all of the way to the line, that’s the way things stayed and Hello Punters had his first win in the bank.

More articles