Young gun Ryan Sanderson is Inter Dominion bound after partnering talented pacer War Dan Buddy in a last-to-first win in the City Of Melton Plate on Saturday night.
Sanderson allowed War Dan Buddy to lob along at the rear of the six-horse field while his main dangers Fighter Command and Bay Of Biscay joined forces in the lead.
Sanderson was content to wait until turning for home before making his run and War Dan Buddy ($2.50 fav) produced a scintillating turn of foot to reel in the leaders, running away to score by three metres from New Shuffle in a mile rate of 1:53.8.
Sanderson admitted he had a task to gain ground on the leaders on the home turn.
“When you have the quality of the field sitting in front of you, you think sometimes it might be a bit hard to get by them,” Sanderson said.
“It’s a credit to him. Emma and Clayton have just got him flying and I just had to sit there and pull him out as late as possible and he did the rest.”
Sanderson believes the son of Art Major will be competitive in this year’s Inter Dominion series in Brisbane in July.
“He’s just an exciting horse with a great turn of foot, and when there is genuine tempo in those Grand Circuit races, I feel like if he has an economical run, he’ll definitely let them know he’s there,” he said.
Exciting four-year-old Keayang Renegade maintained his unbeaten record when he outclassed his rivals in the Vicbred Voucher Pace.
When Jason Lee released the reins around the home turn, Keayang Renegade ($1.20 fav) had little trouble reeling in his rivals and scored comfortably by seven metres in a mile rate of 1:53.5.
Keayang Renegade is now unbeaten in six starts and is sure to be on the early radar of slot holders for The Eureka to be held at Menangle in November.
“He’s definitely showing great potential, and The Eureka sounds cool and just great to be part of it if we could get a slot and if anyone’s got one. I’m sure the uncles and Marg would be happy to take a phone call,” Lee said.
The Chris Svanosio-trained Remus Phoenix chalked up his biggest race success when he took out the Scotch Notch Memorial Trot.
Taylor Youl secured the one-out, one-back trail on Remus Phoenix before easing back to the pegs after stablemate Gotfeelingsyouknow galloped in the back straight.
From there, Remus Phoenix ($3.70) was able to charge through along the sprint lane to get up and score by a neck from stablemate Lovemeto.
Youl conceded being able to obtain an inside run helped Remus Phoenix’s winning chance.
“Being able to get back to the pegs helped him late,” Youl said.
