By Neil Evans
He's well named given the frustration for connections, but the long wait for a second career win is set to be rewarded at Tuesday's feature Hawkesbury meeting.
C'mon Mate ($2.60 favourite on TAB), a tough five-year-old in the Kembla stable of Ross McConville, is still hunting a second win nearly 17 months after a breakthrough success at only his fifth start.
That came on his home track, with punters pulling off a significant betting plunge at the time, but the pickings have been lean since although not for the want of some better luck and several close shaves.
In 21 career starts, C'mon Mate has run a staggering 11 placings, seven of those finishing second, often by narrow margins and without luck.
In fact, on either side of that initial win, he beat all but the winner five times in six starts, including three defeats at Kembla, twice by a nose and once by a long head.
Fast forward and not much has changed, with C'mon Mate three times in the placings in his last five runs, often in tougher company, including a last start Benchmark 64 at Hawkesbury where he worked home into a place behind Rolling Magic.
McConville has now dropped his gelding back to Class 1 level in the Pioneer Services Provincial Handicap and he's never shaped better to finally land that second win for his big team of owners, drawn the inside in a moderate affair over 1500m.
Meanwhile, punters' eyes will be all over an intriguing Lander Toyota Super Maiden Handicap over 1100m later on the program.
Exciting three-year-old Apex ($2.40 fav) returns as a gelding for just his second start for Team Hawkes behind two sharp trials.
And in the same race, leading local trainer Brad Widdup resumes his progressive filly The Grey ($4.80) off two trials, winning the latest on the Kensington Track.
View the final fields with full form & race replays for Hawkesbury here