There was a certain ironic justice on Sunday in Mark du Plessis and Athenium being the major benefactors of Fun Heroes overracing in the lead and setting a solid pace in the eighth event.
In a race populated by run-on horses and which therefore looked on paper to be something of a query regarding tempo, apprentice Alvin Ng ka-chun's inability to steady the ship on Fun Heroes once he was in the lead and exposed certainly changed the game.
That suited Athenium's get-back style, especially with the wide lane bias that was apparent during the day's racing.
Du Plessis then has Fun Heroes to thank for the narrow win, though he is probably still of the view that Fun Heroes has only repaid part of the sum owing.
In June, it was Fun Heroes who overraced in front with Du Plessis aboard, later earning the Zimbabwean-born rider a month off under the reasonable and permissible measures rule.
What has become obvious since is that Fun Heroes is just built that way - he has proved too much to handle for top senior riders Brett Prebble and Zac Purton in their efforts to settle him in two subsequent starts, with or without cover behind other horses. So he was a problem waiting to happen for the 10-pound claimer Ng once he was exposed early.
