Starting the race as the $5.10 favourite, Bondy beat home Karloo Mick ($9.40), who had a beautiful run on the inside, by 2.9m with the Gary Hall-trained Im Themightyquinn ($6.60) 1.7m back again for third.

In an impressive display of speed and stamina, Bondy led after 200m and held on to the front position throughout the entire race.

It wasn’t always an easy run, with lots of pressure to maintain the lead coming from both sides. Lance Justice’s Smoken Up ($5.70) sat three wide on the outside of Bondy before Victoria Cup winner Bettors Strike ($7.40) also moved up and the three sat alongside each other into the home straight.

In the final quarter the two pacers applying pressure tiered, with Smoken Up finishing seventh while Bettors Strike dropped right back to twelfth.

As the chasers faded, Karloo Mick, who had travelled well behind Bondy throughout held on gallantly for second while Im Themightyquinn moved up and through the weary field to finish third.

On the final turn the David Butt trained and driven winner had widened his lead to a commanding six metres, but Karloo Mick put in a gallant chase to shorten the eventual margin to just under 3 metres.

The winning Live Or Die gelding ran a solid mile rate of 2:01.7s over the challenging 3065m standing start event, for his 21^st win from 40 career starts. It was only his second start in Australia following his debut at Ballarat the previous week.

Bondy will now be aimed at the Watpac Inter Dominion Pacing Championship beginning on 19 February.

The other big pacing events on the night were the $200 000 Group 1 Alabar Victoria Derby won by Courage To Rule, and the fast finishing $30 000 Group 3 4YO Bonanza where Living On Fire ($7.10) claimed victory just half a head in front of Village Of Dreams ($8.20) with the Geoff Webster-trained favourite Mister Zion ($1.60) in third.

2010 BIG6 Hunter Cup Results: