It's Logan's heroes once more
New Zealand trainer's good run continues with Thunder Dragon
Donna Logan's on a great run - and, at last, the punters are beginning to take notice.
She doesn't saddle many runners on a race day but, as we have begun to see, the horses she does send to the races recently have all been primed for their assignments.
Take last Friday, Logan saddled two runners - Makkem Lad and The Big Easy - and both greeted the judge.
And on Sunday, she had just one runner - Ironside.
Well, we know how that went down. Erasmus Aslam rode a peach of a race on the four-year-old - bringing him from near last to beat the well-backed Quadcopter.
For the Logan camp, the good work continued last night.
With the "boss" away in the Land Of The Long White Cloud where she attending the New Zealand Ready To Run Sales, her team got to work, saddling three horses in Race 2.
They were Thunder Dragon, Storm To Win and The Jeweller.
With Storm To Win and The Jeweller ridden by Ryan Curatolo and Craig Grylls respectively, it was left to local hoop Aslam to take the ride on the topweight.
Thunder Dragon had disappointed at his last two starts but all went right yesterday.
Jumping from Gate Two, Aslam quickly had his mount on the backs of the leaders, Morpheus and Lady Boss.
Never giving up his spot on the rails, he was second when they straightened.
Remembering that Thuunder Dragon blew his chances last time out when caught behind a wall of hirses, this time Aslam peeled him out for clear running room.
Well, the "Dragon" didn't need a second invitation. With the route to the finish cleared of pesky opponents, Thunder Dragon - showing $50 on the win - flew home to win by 6 ½ lengths.
With the others wondering what hit them, stablemate Storm To Win slipped into second spot.
Not only had Donna Logan got a winner. For good measure, she had also bagged the quinella. And what a mouth-watering quinella it was - $540 for a $2 bet.
Aslam was over the moon.
And while we all saw that he did all the work winning that 1,400m race, the 41-year-old Singaporean was quick to steer the accolades towards Logan.
"She trained the horse," he reminded us. "The team worked real hard. I was just the lucky fella who got to sit on him."
Having ridden Thunder Dragon in both his previous runs, Aslam felt it could have been a case of third time lucky.
"He had the benefit of two runs," said the jockey. "This time he really put his mind to the job and got it done."
So it was, with that victory by Thunder Dragon and no more runners on the night, it was "job well done" for the Logan team.
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