The Wingatui trainer left the opening meeting of the new thoroughbred racing season at his home track with a smile after Sadler’s Lass finished superbly to win race 6 over 1600m with North Canterbury jockey Chris Johnson on board.
The 6yr-old Gallant Guru mare parked up early then hugged the rail before running down race leader Kajino with 200m to go.
It was her second straight win — she also won at Wingatui in early July on a similarly heavy track with Johnson the jockey.
‘‘She went really well,’’ Kennedy said of the mare who has had 16 starts.
‘‘She’s improved, and she’s getting better all the time, which is great.’’
Wingatui had been soaked by about 15ml of rain overnight and Sadler’s Lass seemed to enjoy the conditions, but Kennedy said she was versatile
when it came to track conditions.
‘‘I don’t think she’s necessarily a heavy tracker. She’s had some very good races on dead tracks.’’
Kennedy is eyeing another run at Wingatui in six or seven weeks.
‘‘There’s some good money coming up, so we’ll probably wait for a little bit.
‘‘Melbourne Cup day is not that far away so we might look at something there.’’
It was a 192nd career win for Kennedy, who also had a third (Desert Magic) and fifth (Kerany) yesterday.
‘‘Unfortunately the rain probably didn’t suit the other two.
‘‘But they both went round pretty well and didn’t disgrace themselves.’’
There was another local winner in race 3 as father and son Brian and Shane Anderton got on the board for the new season, All Ashore getting her maiden win in her second start.
The 5yr-old mare eluded the attention of punters, paying $65.40 for the win.
Riverton trainers Kelvin and Aimee Tyler banked three wins from the seven races yesterday.
So Much Mour, guided brilliantly by Rohan Mudhoo, ran down favourite Louie Louie in the feature race over 1400m; Mudhoo was back in race 4 to ride Western Dream to a maiden win; and Zac Black, with Savish Khetoo on board, charged home in the middle of the track to win a thriller over 1200m.
