The Matthew Smith trained Lashes ($3.20 Sportsbet) had to form to take care of things in the last race at Doomben and she duly saluted under Robbie Fradd although she did have to work to secure her victory in the Class 6 Handicap over 1200m.
Lashes settled fourth and then fifth down the back stretch, some three lengths off the lead. Fradd already began shifting Lashes away from the rail at the 600m and the daughter of I Am Invincible then made ground approaching the turn to the degree that she straightened four wide but in the leading line.
Hold The line ($8.50), who hugged the rail, skipped clear early in the straight though and Lashes suddenly had her work cut out on two fronts … trying to run down Hold The Line and trying to hold off the faster finishing Guntantes ($31).
That she succeeded in doing both is testament to her commitment to the cause with victory coming by a slender 0.10 length margin.
“You can’t fault her form down south,” said Fradd.
“At Caulfield she was beaten just over two lengths by Probabeel … that’s good solid form.
‘I probably didn’t want to move that early on her, but I kept nudging her and you kept getting a bit keen and I found myself on the heels of the horse in front of me that wasn’t going quick enough for me.
“I just pulled her out and let her cruise up there. She did hit a little bit of a flat spot … but then she gradually picked it up again and she hit the line solid. She is tough.
‘I want to say thank you to Matthew Smith. He is a big supporter of mine when he comes up here and I appreciate it so much.”
