Christmas cheer at Cranbourne

By Brad Kingsbury
CRANBOURNE trainer Rod Douglas took home the honours and two Christmas hampers with a double at Sunday’s annual Christmas meeting at the track.
A good-sized crowd, including almost 2000 patrons in hospitality marquees, ignored early showers and created a festive atmosphere, highlighted by a strong 10-race program.
Douglas started the day with a win in the first race when his maiden runner One And Only, ridden by Nicholas Ryan, saluted at $2.40 equal favourite.
He followed that success with another first prize cheque in the fourth race when three-year-old gelding Quick Learner, piloted superbly by Mark Zahra, ran away to salute after being heavily backed into favouritism at $3.30.
“I thought he’d win. He trialled well in blinkers at Cranbourne and he won a Class 4 recently, so we thought we’d put our money on him today,” Douglas said.
“He’s a staying type and further down the track he might get a mile and a quarter (2000 metres) in Melbourne.”
Douglas was similarly pleased with the effort of One And Only in the early race.
“He went well the other day so, yes, I was expecting a good run. He has taken a while to come good, but I think we’ve got him right now,” he said.
Top local trainer Robbie Laing also joined the party when his roughie Venti Sette upset a good-quality field to win race seven at $26. Ridden patiently by Peter Hamilton, Venti Sette weaved its way through the field in the straight to snatch victory from well-tried second favourite Assessor.
It was the horse’s second win at the track and Laing said he saved his best for Cranbourne.
“It can run a bit and that’s why I’ve kept him. That was a Showcase race (worth $22,500) so there’s some Christmas money,” Laing laughed in the winner’s enclosure.
“I went to see the stewards and said I wanted to jump and settle back on the fence and ride for luck. That worked all right, but then he got onto the bit and just took off.
“He did the same thing two starts back here but it was a bit of a surprise today because he was against a good field.”
Steven Alderson made it four Cranbourne-trained winners for the day when his gelding Tragic, with Andrew Mallyon aboard, hung on to record its second career win in the Class 3 ninth race.
The feature race of the day, the Class 4 Handicap, was taken out by promising young Geelong-based galloper Esceegee, while Nick Ryan and Stephen Baster took the day’s riding honours with doubles.