Almost eight months after finishing a distant second-last at Gore in late December, the 5yr-old mare made a mess of most punters’ Pick6 tickets with her last-gasp victory at Forbury Park last night.
The daughter of Attorney General was sent out paying $59.20, which was understandable as she had not been seen at the trials or workouts since her December failure.
But her breeder, part-owner and trainer Lindsay Wilson said some lively competition at home on his track at Spar Bush, west of Ryal Bush, had made a difference.
Wilson has been working Lindali with Lucas — trained and owned by his son, Daniel — which finished third in the same race.
"Working with Daniel’s one really helps. They’re both about the same calibre and you can get a good run into them."
Lindali is the fourth winner out of the Armbro Kojak mare, who won nine races in Australia around the turn of the millennium.
She is in foal to Changeover, and Wilson also has a "nice" Live Or Die yearling to concentrate on in the future.
A change of environment worked the oracle earlier in the night when Skyfall showed Bond-like smoothness to break his maiden status at his 13th attempt.
Invercargill trainer Kirstin Barclay and owner Tom Kilkelly had put the son of Jereme’s Jet in the naughty corner, and it was up to Roxburgh trainers Geoff and Jude Knight to get him back in the good books.
"They just had a few problems with him," Geoff Knight said.
"He was bolting on them a bit. They just thought a change of environment would help so he wasn’t on the same course and becoming too much of a habit.
"He hasn’t been the easiest but he’s got better and better as he’s gone along.’’Judging by the way the 4yr-old took the passing lane, he might handle the class rise to the c1 grade.
"That was great and he’ll probably take the next step on that, I’d say, so hopefully we’ll have fun with him."
King Kone handled some c1 trotters last night, but Mosgiel trainer Craig Buchan thinks the presence of maidens in the 2700m trot was a big help as well.
"He’s a great beginner so I thought he would have a chance," Buchan said.
"If he couldn’t win that one, he wouldn’t win many more.
"We’ll probably see if we can get him to Australia to Globe Derby or something — he’s a great beginner so he would suit that."
In a typically entertaining junior drivers’ race, a mid-race move from Matt Anderson behind the Andrew Stuart-trained Martin John proved the difference.
Anderson sent the son of Changeover forward with a lap to go and kept pouring on the pressure on Hopes And Dreams with 500m to go.
"He was feeling really well in the prelims and was in good order tonight, so I drove him accordingly," Anderson said.
"He probably lacks a bit of top speed, so if he runs more even quarters, he’s probably a bit more of a live chance."
