Torrid Saint showed he is in career-best form with a momentous win in Saturday night’s TAB Smoken Up Sprint.
The Julie Douglas-trained speedster had competed 18 times at Group level without success prior to his breakthrough victory in the Group 2 feature at Tabcorp Park Melton.
Driver Jack Laugher was the man to deliver his long-awaited triumph, which came at start 119 and at six years of age.
Torrid Saint led easily from barrier one and was given a soft time in front, with opening quarters of 29.0 and 30.7 allowing him to zip home in 28.2 and 26.6 to win by just over a metre on the line.
Triple Eight (Jess Tubbs/Bailey McDonough) was second after taking the trail from barrier eight, while stablemate Better Eclipse finished hard from the one-one to grab third for driver Greg Sugars.
“He just goes about his business and produces every week. He’s just a little ripper,” Laugher said.
Torrid Saint, who is now a winner of 16 races and over $300,000 in prizemoney, is one of 25 horses left in contention for a spot in next Saturday night’s Group 1 Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup.
There was plenty of drama in the Smoken Up Sprint, with Aaron Dunn’s star Bondi Lockdown suffering a serious bleeding attack and subsequently stood down for three months.
New Zealander Copy That also suffered a bleed, but it is understood to be on the minor end of the scale.
Copy That’s trainer Ray Green told thetrots.com.au on Sunday that a decision would likely be made on his place in the Victoria Cup on Thursday.
Later on Saturday night, Queen Elida picked up a golden ticket into the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship heats with victory in the Chris Howe Trotters Free For All.
The Brent Lilley-trained mare sat parked for much of the last lap and powered clear first-up to win comfortably by over 5m.
John Justice’s Mufasa Metro was second, while Ross Graham-trained Nephew Of Sonoko grabbed third.
Queen Elida, the reigning Victorian three-year-old trotting filly of the year, has now won 15 of 25 career starts.
“She’s just got that point-to-point speed which only the really good trotters have,” driver Chris Alford said.
