Devonport trainer Mark Ganderton has his small team firing early this season and he took training honours at Launceston last Friday night with two winners from just three starters.
His first success came via sparingly raced six-year-old Glory Mission, who enjoyed a gun run just off the pace under Kelvin Sanderson before taking a strong benchmark 76 handicap over 1120 metres.
The gelded son of Stratosphere scored a dominant on-pace win resuming from a 16-month break at his home circuit on September 9 before defeating smart mare Zany Girl in the second-up win.
He’s now won five from 11 appearances and Ganderton is hopeful that he may have a TTC Newmarket contender on his hands.
The win provided Sanderson with a double as he was earlier successful aboard the Liam Beamish-trained Henley Extreme, who also box-seated before proving too strong in the Class 3 handicap over 1620 metres.
Glory Mission’s stablemate Fighting For Gold was just as impressive storming home from the back under Anthony Darmanin in the following event, a Class 3 handicap over 1220 metres.
The daughter of Fighting Sun was well found by punters at her first run back from a 12-month spell, firming from $6.50 to $3.70. She’s now had four first-up runs for two wins and two placings.
Dagger’s looking sharp
Tasmania’s assault on the Victorian spring carnival continues this week when Jessie Bazan’s classy mare Silver Dagger tackles the TAB One Pool benchmark 78 handicap over 1200 metres at Flemington on Saturday.
The daughter of D’Argento has only missed the quinella once in four fresh runs and that was when running a cracking fourth in the TTC Newmarket first up last prep.
She’s tuned up for her return with a Longford trial placing behind speedster Swift Force and it may be a good lead that she’s heading across Bass Strait instead of contesting a benchmark 68 handicap at Launnie on Friday night.