In form reinsman Jack Laugher took the driving honours with a winning double on Saturday night at Melton.
The John Tormey-trained King Saint provided Laugher with the first leg of his double, taking out the Hygain Edge Pace.
Sent out a $3.10 equal favourite, King Saint was sent forward by Laugher and subsequently wrested the lead off co-favourite Insider Trading with a lap to travel over the 1720-metre sprint trip.
Insider Trading appeared set for victory along the sprint lane when it drew level with the leader halfway down the home straight. However, King Saint refused to yield and fought back to get the verdict by a head in a mile rate of 1:55.8.
Laugher was impressed by the winner’s will to win.
“I thought Insider Trading was going straight on by up the sprint lane, to be honest, but to his credit I could feel him kicking on and, on the line, it was never going to let the other one get past him,” Laugher said.
Laugher said he elected to stay out of the early battle for the lead.
“The three inside of me all have pretty good gate speed, so I was hoping that they would sort themselves out and I could keep sliding forward, and I was pretty confident that Insider Trading would take a sit,” he said.
The Philip Chircop-prepared five-year-old Maxnjax completed Laugher’s double when it sprint-laned its way to victory in the Ranvet Pace.
“He’s got great gate speed and a really good turn of foot, so he crossed pretty easily and I was able to take a sit and he was never going to get beaten,” Laugher said.
The 27-year-old Laugher currently sits in second place on the State Drivers Premiership behind runaway leader James Herbertson.
The Lisa Pitt-trained mare Soap And Bubbles was rewarded for her consistency when she proved too strong for her rivals in the Logical Staffing Solutions Pace.
Driver Kerryn Manning on Soap And Bubbles elected to surrender the lead to Keayang Wasabi and await her chance along the sprint lane, and that’s exactly how the race panned out.
Once in the lane on straightening, Soap And Bubbles ($2.60) quickly mustered speed to score running away by four metres from Keayang Wasabi in a mile rate of 1:54.6.
The daughter of Lather Up had previously been placed on seven occasions since her last win in September last year.
Manning said the favourable barrier (2) was instrumental in the mare’s return to the winner’s circle.
“She’s been going really well without winning and the draw pointed towards her having a really good show tonight,” Manning said.
“She feels very classy. She is a bit like a lot of the good three-year-old fillies. They get such a hard mark and then they have to run in fields like this and sometimes it takes a while to win one,” she said.
Im Bobby vindicated his high ranking for this year’s Trotters Inter Dominion with a welcome return to the winner’s stall in the Nutrien Equine Free For All Trot.
Im Bobby ($7) tracked through from his inside back-row draw to secure the sit behind the leader Pinnie, while the $1.60 favourite Lovemeto landed midfield in the running line.
Im Bobby appeared to be travelling well within himself around the home turn and, once Tasmyn Potter eased into the sprint lane, the son of Majestic Son charged through to grab his first victory since taking out the Shepparton Trotters Cup in January.
“He was travelling so well and when the run came, he just went from jogging and hit the line super,” Potter said.
Potter believes Im Bobby will acquit himself well during the upcoming Inter Dominion series at Albion Park.
“I think he could do anything the way he goes,” she said.
Prior to the win, Im Bobby was ranked fifth following the scratching of The Locomotive from the series this week.
