Melton review

CHAMPION racemare Ladies In Red made a one act affair of the $24,000 Blossom Lady at Melton on Saturday night.

Coming off the only unplaced run in her 31 start career in Cordina Sprint, Ladies In Red lobbed along at the rear of the field before driver David Moran made a move to sit outside the leader Rakero Rebel with a lap to travel.

When asked for a greater effort, Ladies In Red ($1.35 fav) surged clear around the final bend before cruising to the line holding an eight metre advantage over her stablemate Treachery and the consistent Sew What in a mile rate of 1:53.2.

Moran continues to be in awe of the six-year-old mare.

“She’s a once in a lifetime mare, she is very special,” Moran said.

Moran said it was always his intention to secure the spot outside the leader.

“Our first option was to go and sit parked but the leaders had gone pretty hard early,” he said.

“We wanted to get in front of the other horses as we thought we had the leader covered with the work it had done early and get around to the breeze and control the tempo and fingers crossed be too good for them.”

Moran said it was likely Sydney racegoers will get the opportunity to see Ladies In Red in the coming weeks at Menangle.

“I would imagine the Ladyship (Mile) will be the main priority with her,” he said.

The Emma Stewart trained Ladies In Red now boasts the imposing career record of 25 wins from 32 starts for more than $1.92m in stake earnings.

It was a relieved Chris Lang after his star trotter Ollivici returned to the winner’s stall in the $24,000 City Of Melton Trotters Free For All.

Ollivici, who hadn’t saluted since winning a heat of the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship last December, was a $2.80 second elect behind Im Ready Jet who was installed a $2.15 favorite.

Lang wasted little time in urging Ollivici to the lead from his front row draw and ensured a genuine tempo before gaining a break on his rivals on straightening.

Ollivici was untroubled to win by four metres from the rank outsider Aldebaran Keepa ($126) with the fast finishing Locksley Lover in third place.

Lang said he was under no illusions as to the magnitude of the task Ollivici had faced in recent months.

“Obviously he’s been racing in the elite level against those four horses who ran last night in New Zealand who are the best in Australasia and any of those would have gone around $1.50 in this race tonight,” Lang said.

Lang revealed Ollivici hadn’t raced at his best in recent outings.

“He hasn’t been at his best and we’ve had a few issues with him which I think after the way he went tonight, I think we are starting to sort them out,” he said.

“He’s been tying up, he’s always gone good fresh and I would say that when he was going rough at the end of his races that he was going through a bit of pain.”

Lang indicated there are no ambitious plans in place for the son of Orlando Vici.

“I would like to say that we’re aiming for an Inter Dominion but we are just taking it one week at a time,” he said.

“We may head up to Sydney in the next month or so and see what’s up there.”

Former New Zealand pacer Bach enjoyed a successful debut into open class ranks when he scored a narrow win in the $24,000 Markovina Free For All at Melton.

Sent out a $1.90 favourite, Bach was given time to balance up by Anthony Butt before working to the lead with 1500 metres to travel.

Butt dictated the terms of the race to suit himself in a 59.8 first half of the last mile before cruising down the back straight in 29.6.

Favourite backers were nervous when the challenges emerged in the home straight with both Yambukian and Triple Eight storming home down the middle of the track.

Triple Eight got close on the line however Bach had sufficient in reserve to hang on and score by half a head with Final Collect a head away third in a 27 second last quarter.

Butt was happy enough the Kyle Marshall trained five-year-old was able to prevail in a tight finish.

“They had their chance to run him down but he held on well,” Butt said.

Butt believes there are more wins in store for the son of Bettors Delight.

“He’s done great job since he arrived here and Kyle has managed him well and he’s had some nice easy wins on the way through, it’s going to get harder from here on in but I’m sure he will acquit himself well,” he said.

Bach has won his past four starts since finishing down the track in the Cranbourne Cup at his Australian debut.

“I was confident he was going to run second before he galloped in the Cranbourne Cup, he felt really good but he just broke going into that last bend which a lot of horses do,” he said.

Bach is building an impressive strike rate winning 12 races from 34 lifetime starts.