![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/AtaRangi_20260207_80198.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of merit to it.”<\/p>\n
Smoken Ace’s 12th career win from 37 starts was a testament to his resilience and growing maturity.<\/p>\n
“He’s a very lackadaisical horse; I woke him up a bit tonight,” Herbertson said.<\/p>\n
“At the top of the straight when we kicked clear, we kicked a bit early and he started having a look around and checking out the scenery.<\/p>\n
“To his credit, when they do come at him, he kicks into gear and fights them off.<\/p>\n
“He’s more a free-rolling horse. If you can keep him switched on and rolling along, that’s more the way he needs to be driven.<\/p>\n
“By the same token, Kyle has done a great job training him to be able to sustain the speed he sustains.<\/p>\n
“We saw it in Geelong and we saw it again (at Kilmore).”<\/p>\n
The win completed a treble for Herbertson and formed part of a double for Marshall, who took out the following race in somewhat of an upset with Ata Rangi ($11).<\/p>\n
The five-year-old gelding, driven by Jordan Leedham, notched up his seventh and biggest win from 31 starts in the Vin Knight Memorial Pace Final, giving Marshall wins in the two features named after the legendary former harness racing trainer and driver and his champion pacer, both icons of Australian harness racing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SMOKEN by name and smokin’ by nature. That sums up the rich vein of form Mount Wallace pacer Smoken Ace has found himself in over the past two months The Kyle Marshall-trained five-year-old continued his recent purple patch on Kilmore Pacing Cup night last Saturday, breaking the 1690m track record with a scintillating victory in […]<\/p>\n