It was a case of the best emerging to the fore as talented stablemates Persian Wonder and Krasina both broke their maiden status at Canterbury, with Persian Wonder’s victory being particularly hard-fought.
Competitive in several of the premier autumn two-year-old races, including a second placing in the Group 3 Baillieu Handicap (1400m), Persian Wonder ($3.30) was positioned in second and appeared to be under considerable pressure approaching the home turn in Wednesday’s Robrick Lodge Handicap (1200m).
However, with strong guidance from Zac Lloyd, the colt responded gamely in the latter stages to overtake the leader Yoshida by a clear length, achieving a gritty win.
“It’s obviously not the way to ride him, but I thought I’d give him every chance to tough it out, and that he did,” Lloyd stated. “As you can see in his past few replays, he is quite a lazy horse and he’s going to benefit when he gets a bit of headgear on. We’ve just got to wait for him to be mentally ready.
“I knew he was going to keep responding, and once he got a couple of reminders, he really stretched and went on with the job.”
Lloyd and Payne were back in the winner’s enclosure a race later when Krasina ($1.80 fav) atoned for an unlucky third behind Why So Hard at Randwick last month to break her maiden in the Bisley Workwear Handicap (1200m).
Payne was not in attendance, but Lloyd expressed his delight in securing a midweek double for the well-regarded horseman, noting the historical connection between the Lloyd and Payne families, including Zac Lloyd’s father and former rider, Jeff Lloyd.
” Lloyd and Payne go a long way back, so it’s good when I can ride winners for David,” Zac Lloyd said. “It was good to see her be able to put herself in a spot where you’re not relying so much on luck.
“The form was there. She was the best horse in the race, so I rode her accordingly and she has done that very comfortably.”
Despite his limited number of horses, Payne has a strong team of rising three-year-olds, including Bangkok Hottie, who won at Randwick in April and is scheduled to trial at Rosehill on Friday in preparation for the Princess Series.
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