Sprightly Lass made it three-from-three for Hawkes Racing on Friday night (Image: Racing Photos)
The moments
Damien Oliver took no time in striking on return from a 20-meeting suspension that saw him miss the Flemington carnival, booting home Pearl de Vere for trainer Mitch Freedman in a fighting finish from Masipag (Noel Callow) to open the eight-race card in the Art Series Hotel Group Plate (1200m). It was on the same stretch of Valley turf that saw him penalised for his ride on Happy Clapper in the Cox Plate, but Oliver quickly made the home stretch his friend yet again.
Three-wide the trip was no worries for Nature Strip, the well-backed favourite in the IPRINT Handicap (1000m) vindicated his odds-on quote in fine fashion with a 5.5-length romp under Ryan Maloney's riding. He is certainly a horse going places, with two wins and a second from three starts for trainer Robert Smerdon. Sprightly Lass then made it three-from-three with a three-length win for Team Hawkes in the 1000m for fillies-and-mares, although the perfect copybook of Seven Year Reward was blotted - the Greg Eurell-trained gelding finishing a narrow third in the $99 Summer Membership Handicap (1200m), having won three on end to start his career.
Apprentice Mel Julius did a phenomenal job just to stay in the saddle when they jumped in the Ladbrokes 55 Second Challenge Heat 5 (955m). Julius was very nearly bumped out of the saddle aboard Plateau Gold, but managed to get her foot back in the stirrup and took the lead on the Quinton Scott-trained eight-year-old. It was a miraculous piece of riding as racecaller Matt Hill encapsulated at the time. And in a different sense, so was Tahlia Hope's aboard Invincible Al to win the race at her first time riding at The Valley. Hope debuted at the track earlier on the card when leading in the 3000m race aboard Grassini, but it was over less than a third of the trip that she broke through over - finishing over the top of Showpero while Plateau Gold held on for third.
Tasmanian-based trainer, and professional polo player, Aiden Nunn bagged his first city winner when Brilliant Jet finished like a jet to win the Proper National Pies Handicap (2040m). Nunn, who trains out of Longford - the home of The Cleaner, only has two horses in work, and it was his 15th career victory and one to savour. Brilliant Jet broke his maiden at Launceston in January, and has since clocked up wins at Grafton, the Gold Coast and Moonee Valley.
The quotes
"She's the first horse I bought at a yearling sale." - trainer Mitch Freedman is a horseman on the up in the racing game, and he showed it didn't take him long to pick them out either. Putting his hand up last at $23,000 for the daughter of Wanted, Pearl de Vere, Freedman has gone on to train her to win a fiver shy of $25,000 in just four starts after she broke her maiden at The Valley. And she's never been out of the first four in those four starts, with Freedman showing his knack for placing them well.
"You can't do much more than win three-out-of-three, can you?" - trainer Wayne Hawkes summed up the impressive win of Sprightly Lass in typically understated fashion, the Snitzel mare winning at her first Melbourne start in a 1000m dash for fillies and mares. And as Wayne added, his co-trainer brother Michael has done all the work with her up in Sydney in winning at Gosford and Hawkesbury before she arrived in Melbourne this week, so Wayne humbly palmed the credit north of the border.
The stats
Anne Yates - the Bendigo horsewoman trained a Valley winner with her only horse, Weave. He was too strong in the 3000m race, outmuscling old warrior Crafty Cruiser from the Bryce Stanaway yard. Matching that feat at Canterbury was Warwick Farm trainer David Mills, whose only horse Satirical Magic also won.
56.06s - Invincible Al's winning time in the 955m dash. It's not enough to lead the 55 Second Challenge, though, almost a second off Mile High's benchmark of 55.12s this season. And in the #TheValley55 competition ran by Racing.com on social media, there were guesses of Invincible Al to win in 56.05s, 56.07s and 56.08s - agonisingly close for a few!
Tahlia Hope - Invincible Al was her first winner at The Valley, and a gun ride too aboard the Patrick Payne-trained galloper.
Chris Waller - Canterbury quintet. The stable has already had three trebles at the track this season, and has now tallied 19 winners there in 2017-18 - to be their most prolific track of the season from Randwick (15).
Glyn Schofield - Canterbury running double, both for Waller
Blake Shinn - Canterbury running double. One winner was for Waller (Cellarman) - who has a seemingly endless amount of horses - and one for Warwick Farm trainer David Mills, who only has the one horse.
The tweets