By David Nagel
Local trainers cleaned up on their home track at Pakenham on Monday with a myriad of stars combining to win races three to seven on the eight-race card.
Gun trainers Phillip Stokes and Peter Moody got the wheels in motion for locals, before Sunny Reeve and Reece Goodwin jumped on board for the ride.
Stokes trained a winning double, with Take On Jen and Way To Go Paula both saluting, while Moody paid his regular visit to the winner’s stall after Dream of Venus won race four on the program.
Reeve then followed in Moody’s footsteps when her six-year-old gelding Licorice Prince gave his rivals a galloping lesson in the $27,000 BenchMark-58 Handicap (1000m).
Licorice Prince ran an unlucky fourth at Moe last start, with Arron Lynch taking the ride.
But a complicated set of circumstances saw Luke Nolen aboard on Monday.
“His first run (Moe) he should have won, Arron rode him beautifully, but he just didn’t get a gap,” Reeve said post-race.
“Poor Arron is rubbed out at the moment, and Nathan (Punch), who was going to ride him for me, had an accident this morning at Cranbourne, so we’ve searched from nine o’clock this morning until one o’clock trying to get hold of Luke.
“But he dropped his phone in a bucket of water and nobody could get hold of him.
“I just told him to do anything but lead.”
Nolen took those clear instructions on board, settling back in the field before unleashing a withering burst over the last 100 metres of the race.
Licorice Prince scored by a length-and-a-quarter on the line, running down Covert in the shadows of the post.
Goodwin then completed a great day for locals when Jolting made it back-to-back victories in the $27,000 BenchMark-58 Handicap (1400m).
The six-year-old son of Shocking has taken a real liking to the synthetic track at Pakenham, with Goodwin hoping he can convert that form to the turf.
“It’s tough, not many of them seem to do it, but he had never raced on the synthetic until he came to me so we might get another run or two out of him, then freshen him up and look to run him over the summer,” Goodwin said.
“He looks somewhat progressive enough, even though he’s a five-year-old, he’s strung together a couple of nice wins.”
Goodwin’s eye for a bargain has once again paid off, but that hasn’t always been the case.
“He could have been a complete flop, and I’ve had plenty of them, and you’re going to get them unfortunately,” Goodwin explained.
“I liked him because he had previously shown good ratings and they’re the type of horses I go for, horses that have shown nice ability and then tapered off for various reasons.
“We basically haven’t done a lot with him, we’ve backed the work right off, kept him fresh, and I think that’s why he’s got that turn of foot.”
Racing returns to Pakenham on Monday 22 August.
