WA apprentice wins on Bastille at Sandown

West Australian apprentice Clint Johnston-Porter has ridden a winner at his first ride in Melbourne, guiding Bastille home at Sandown.

Johnston-Porter gave Bastille a polished ride in the Dream Thoroughbreds National Apprentice Riders Race (1200m) on Wednesday.

Sent out the $2.60 favourite, Bastille was up on the speed until the turn before taking over early in the straight, racing clear for a 2-3/4 length victory.

With more than 160 winners to his credit in Western Australia, Johnston-Porter would like to one day make his way across to the eastern seaboard.

But for the time being, the 18-year-old, who has been riding for 2-1/2 years, is happy to continue riding for Geoff Durant and Jason Miller.

“They have been a big help to my career,” Johnston-Porter said.

“But this is a good opportunity to come over here and do this. It gets me noticed on the market.

“Maybe moving over is something I can look forward to doing some time in the future. It’s the next step in riding.

“We’ll see what happens after today.”

Lindsay Park co-trainer Ben Hayes was full of praise for Johnston-Porter’s handling of Bastille who jumped from a debut maiden win at Benalla to success in a benchmark 64 class race against older horses.

Bastille was a high-priced yearling, going for $775,000 at the 2015 Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast and his owners include Coolmore and China Horse Club.

“We’ll look to get him out in distance now and hopefully he might be seen up in Sydney,” Hayes said.