Kellady picks up a win aboard Hugo
Treble sees Clements regain the lead from Walker in trainers' championship
Fourteen races. Eleven races. It is never about the numbers.
Like on Saturday, it was down to a card of 11. But, as it turned out, there was nothing lacking.
The racing was competitive. The intensity was enough to get us off our sofas and screaming like banshees at our television screens. The neighbours must have thought we were crazy. But, we weren't the least bothered.
It was the natural thing to do. I mean you cannot sit still when a horse is working his magic on the track.
Like when Hugo took the main event - the $70,000 Class 3 sprint over the flying 1,000m on the Polytrack. It was as exciting as a horse race could get.
Hugo, obviously back on his game, stalked the speed all the way until the home stretch.
Taken to the outside for an unimpeded run, he went after the leaders with the enthusiasm of a bulldog devouring a steak.
A furlong out, he had drawn alongside the well-fancied Ararat Lady. Just like that, it was "game over" for the gutsy mare.
Not so, Hugo. Neglected in the betting - he would pay $74 - he had his fifth win in the bag.
For his rider, Matthew Kellady, it was a gift.
Vlad Duric was to have ridden the Stephen Gray-trained gelding. But the champ had, after Race 2, given up all his rides because of dehydration. Hugo fell into the lap of Kellady, who made the best of the opportunity.
Earlier, in the opening event, we were again reminded that Class 5 races are not to be sniffed at. And, it took a seven-year-old named Ol Mate Buzzer to punch home the message.
Ridden by up-and-coming apprentice M Nizar, horse and rider were involved in a scrappy four-horse skirmish over the final 200m.
Never giving an inch, two eight-year-olds, a seven-year-old and a four-year-old young gun battled away like there was a trophy at stake.
"Ol Mate" got the verdict, beating Amazing Man by a head. The youngster Mowgli took third, a neck in front of that other eight-year-old, Asia Spirit.
So what if Ol Mate Buzzer isn't Inferno? Like Inferno, he reminded us that he had four strong legs and that huge intangible which we always seem to forget - that great tick of the heart.
So much for the horses. The 11-race programme turned out to be a good day at the office for trainer Michael Clements and jockeys Ruan Maia, Louis-Philippe Beuzelin and Simon Kok.
Clements saddled a treble. The three hoops scored a double apiece.
Significantly, Clements' treble - which came courtesy of Ablest Ascend in Race 2, Iron Ruler in the third and Bushido in Race 7 - nudged him back into the lead in the trainers' ranks.
He now sits on 42 wins, two ahead of Mark Walker, who drew a blank.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
