SCONE trainer Luke Griffith capped a big day when he led in a treble at Muswellbrook on Tuesday which included Texan Lad (Shane Arnold) coming within a tick of the track and class record in winning the Skellatar Sprint (1000m).
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Griffith and Greg Ryan also combined to win the Maiden (1000m) with Star Of Legs and the Mayors Cup (2300m) with All That Excites.
Texan Lad is owned by a syndicate which includes Muswellbrook Race Club vice-president Duane Dowell and committee member Ross Peasley which they bought at Scone as a yearling for $11,000.
He has now won 10 races and more than $260,000.
“He is a horse that loves to lead or sit on the pace and break their hearts,” Griffith said. “He had been up a long time but is a sprinter and we don’t do a lot with him.”
Griffith was the most successful trainer over the two days of the Muswellbrook carnival also winning the Three Year Old Maiden last Sunday with Murranji.
Scone trainer John Simpson bought Murranji for only $1000 as a weanling, however he elected not to train the three-year-old but to give him to Griffith to train.
“I bought him before the I Am Invincible’s had won a race but I liked his breeding,” Simpson said. “Early on I knew he was going to be good and if I had trained him I would have been worried the whole time.
“Luke has the work, riders and staff to do a proper job with him. I will just concentrate on training one or two slow ones and enjoy seeing this horse progress.”
The Griffith trained Star Of Legs (Greg Ryan), a half brother to the good performer Star Of Dubai, lived up to his consistency by breaking through for his win.
“He is still learning and he did a few things wrong in that race but when the penny drops he will be a nice horse,” Griffith said.
Star Of Legs was bred by well known Tablelands owner Gabby Wauch who also owns Star Of Dubai, the winner of eight races including last year’s Aberdeen Cup at Muswellbrook.
“We lost the mare, Luskette, this year in foal to Snippetson but that’s one of those things that happens in racing,” Wauch said.
Griffith and Ryan were back in the winner’s circle when All That Excites humped 59kgs to overcome a check on the turn and win the Mayors Cup (2300m).
That was his third win on the track but his first win at the distance.
“We weren’t worried about him getting the distance but the weight was a bit of a concern,” Griffith said. “We will have to look for a race over a similar distance, but probably at the provincials to get some weight relief.”
Greg Bennett has done the job he was asked to do and New Shaker is off to stud after racing wide then winning the Maiden (1280m) on Tuesday.
“Paul Fudge at Waratah Thoroughbreds sent her up to me to win a race with her then she was to go to stud,” Bennett said. “Job done.
“She was around the money at the provincials but could not win. She came to me about six weeks ago and I put her on the water walker for 12 days and she thrived.”
New Shaker is by Bernstein from the top class United States based mare New Dice.
She raced wide throughout the trip but Blake Spriggs had put her out there after talking with Fudge.
“Paul Fudge told me that the only thing that would beat her was slow horses so I wanted to stay out of the way of the others,” Spriggs said.
New Shaker went on to win by three quarters of a length from the Luke Griffith-trained Amores Del Sabados.
