Having watched both the Miracle Mile and SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup titles disappear across the ditch in recent months, punters were understandably wary of the old adage about things happening in threes. And they were right.

Backed from $5.50 into $4 on-course in the 3065-metre feature on the basis of his peerless standing start record and dominant victory in last week’s Sky Racing Pure Steel, Bondy - named after Kiwi fast bowler Shane Bond - didn’t let punters down.

“He did run a really good race at Ballarat and won really well and I was hoping that run last week would improve him but you just never know,” trainer-driver David Butt said.

“It obviously did improve him a bit more because he’s gone even better tonight. It’s great.”

After stepping best of the front-line runners even though he played up at the start, Butt’s son of Live Or Die was on top after less than 200 metres and from there he was always shaped as the most difficult to beat.

Running through a moderate lead time of 1:55, the eight-year-old gelding was able to gradually increase the tempo over the last mile recording splits of 30.6, 29.1 and 28.5 before exploding away from his rivals entering the straight in a final section of 28.5 to complete a 2:01.7 mile rate.

“I thought I was a big chance if I jumped first,” Butt said. “He always plays up a bit but he normally begins well. As long as he faces the right way he gets away quite good.

That pressure came first from Victoria Cup winner Bettors Strike before a three-wide assault from noted stayer Smoken Up transformed the race into a genuine contest for the first time. But it was not to last.

“He did cop a bit of pressure so I was a little bit worried, but then they backed off,” Butt said.

“Lance came out with a round to go and I thought I might be in a bit of trouble, but he kept going. I was just a bit worried about someone coming out of the pack but no one seemed to.”

When Bondy kicked into high gear 200m out, the only legitimate challenge came from Karloo Mick who – after racing behind Bondy throughout – chased valiantly when extricated but failed by 2.9 metres.

Gun Western Australian, Im Themightyquinn, was the hard-luck story of the race, flashing home to grab third, just 1.7m behind Karloo Mick, after coming from five-back the pegs turning for home.