Eight-year-old gelding Khaki Nui ($2.60 fav) produced a fast finishing burst to come from last at the 300m to take out the Faithful Park Stud Stakes (2200m) in Launceston on Sunday night.
Westbury-based trainer Michael Laugher admits he thought the pacer “looked too far back” turning for home before he flew home to score by a short half-head with Kayleb Williams in the sulky to defeat Agouda Ruler ($4.40) and Sharkattack ($5.50) in a mile rate of 2:00.4s.
“It was a patient drive. I told Kayleb to be patient, and he was fast up the straight; that’s the main thing,” said Laugher.
The pacer could have easily scored back-to-back wins after being first past the post at the start before being relegated to third after galloping over the line.
“Tiarna (Ford) did nothing wrong on him last start. He is a horse that can do that once in a while, and he has done it throughout his career. But when he is good, he is good,” said the trainer.
“I didn’t plan on going to Hobart on Sunday with him, but there looks to be a suitable race down there, and then we will see what happens as he is going to be a bit tricky to place down here over the winter,” said Laugher.
On Saturday night, Michael watched his son Jack become involved in a nasty fall soon after the start in a race at Mildura. On Monday, Jack was waiting on the results of scans taken on his wrist to determine the outcome of his injuries.
Driving honours at the Launceston meeting were shared by Nathan Ford and Jacob Duggan with a double each.
Ford drove Spacewriter ($3.30 fav) to lead all the way in the opening race before winning later in the night with Cedric Seymour ($9) in the fast class race of the night.
Duggan’s double came later in the night with Fleetwood Rock ($2.70 fav) and No Nukes Skipper ($6 eq. Fav).
The win of Fleetwood Rock completed a training double for Wayne Yole, who was the only trainer to record multiple wins after Beast Mode ($15) won earlier in the night.
