It’s great when a plan comes together and that was certainly the case for Plan Ce on Saturday night, with Peter Thompson’s five-year-old producing a quaddie-busting breakthrough win.
Paying $104 on the tote, the victory was Plan Ce’s first since August and produced in a highly competitive $20,000 Benstud Standardbreds Vicbred Pace, the equal richest win of his 37-start career.
It was a result that blew the quaddie out to almost a five-figure ($9735.40) payout with the TAB, with Mach Dan (race 5), Glenavril King (race 7) and Van Mara (race 8) saluting in the other legs.
Reinsman Darby McGuigan accredited Plan Ce’s win to the trainer, telling Trots Vision “Pete’s been a good supporter of mine over time, so it’s good to get a win for him. He does a terrific job.”
The young reinsman capitalised on Plan Ce’s gate 4 draw with a good early charge to find the lead, striding out in a 6.9-sec lead time and into a 28.5-sec first quarter, when he yielded the front to Vanity Bay.
While favourite Cant Top This galloped out of contention the leader took a breather with a 32.4-sec second quarter that ensured the chasing pack would have its work cut out in the closing stages.
And so it proved, with Plan Ce sliding off Vanity Bay’s back at the top straight to hit the lead and win in a 27.7-sec last quarter, with Zoliver running into second for trainer Ahmen Taiba and reinsman Jack Laugher.
HEAR FROM ALL SATURDAY NIGHT’S WINNING DRIVERS:
“He was great,” McGuigan said of the winner. “I think Pete thought he had been lacking on his form of recent times, he wasn’t really sure where he was at tonight, but he felt super as soon as I went out on the track, so I was really happy with that.
“As Pete says, he’s always better on the fence, so if you can get across, do that, but if not save him up for one last run. Once he found leader’s back, I was pretty confident (Aaron Dunn on Vanity Bay) wasn’t going to hand up, it was always a great position to be in.”
The night also saw a driving double for James Herberton, coupling the Mach Dan victory with an earlier win steering Castle Retreat, and a senitmental win for trainer Alison Alford and reinsman Josh Duggan with Sleepee, a fitting salute to regular driver Chris Alford who’s recovering from a knee infection.
