Warrnambool galloper In The Boat has extended his winning streak to four and gone close to recording a new track record time in his latest victory at The Valley.
The Lindsey Smith-trained galloper outsped his rivals on Saturday to win the Dominant Sanitation Solutions Handicap (1200m) in a time of 1.08.86, just outside of the record set by Hey Doc in winning the Manikato Stakes in 2020.
Saturday’s track started out as a Good 4 but was upgraded to a Good 3 after two races and further upgraded to a Firm 2 following race seven.
Taken straight to the lead by apprentice Alana Kelly, In The Boat, the $2.25 favourite, scored a two-length victory from Florescent Star ($10) with Sacred Palace ($14), a stablemate of the winner, 1-¾ lengths further off in third place.
Smith was confident In The Boat was capable of outspeeding his rivals but instructed Kelly to give the gelding breather in a bid to get him to relax as the stable has a 1400m race in two weeks in mind.
“(Part-owner) Deane Lester generally gets it right and he earmarked a 1400-metre race and then a couple of weeks off and then we’ll see where he ends up,” Smith said.
“I instructed Alana just to take a holding position today because if we want to get him to 1400 we want to keep him in an on the bridle situation and she did that.
“The horse was able to accept that, so it was the plan to ease him up between the 900 and the 600.
“When they keep doing ‘pbs’ while they’re going up in grade, it’s generally a good sign and everything suited him today.
“He’s landed here today because he couldn’t handle wet and heavy tracks, so I’m glad it’s paying off for all the connections because they are good supporters of our stable.”