Longford trainer John Blacker took the honours at Launceston on Wednesday night with a pair of winners that were both well found by punters.
The first of them was former promising three-year-old Mulley’s Idol, who took the benchmark 58 handicap over 1400 metres at his third run back from a break.
Now five, the Artie Schiller gelding had placed just once from his previous 12 outings and had been winless since July 2017, but benefited from an excellent Daniel Ganderton ride. Ganderton gave Blacker’s charge a nice trail just off the pace before looming large on straightening.
The much improved showing was anticipated in some circles, with Mulley’s Idol tightening from $21 to $15.
Blacker went on to make it a running double with Mag Wheels, who took the benchmark 58 handicap over 1600 metres after being heavily supported from $3.60 to be the $2.50 favourite.
It was a brave effort by the Tough Speed mare, who had to do all the chasing work behind tearaway leader Global Princes before hanging on for a narrow victory with apprentice Chris Graham in the saddle.
The ex-Victorian mare had also been out of the winner’s circle for a lengthy period — since shedding her maiden tag over 2200 metres on the Pakenham synthetic in September last year.
The night was a mixed bag for leading trainer Scott Brunton, whose Hobart Cup contender Earl Da Vinci bled in the benchmark 76 handicap.
That race was taken out by the Adam Trinder-prepared Bidirectional.
Brunton was able to atone for that disappointment to some extent when his honest charge Savs Finale took the following event, a Class 4 handicap over 1200 metres, after enjoying a good trail just off the pace under Troy Baker.
The win gave Baker a double as he was also successful on the Tegan Keys-trained La Dernier Fille, who took the open-age maiden plate over 1400 metres.