Cranbourne trainer Alexander Rae has not enjoyed a lot of luck with Chief Altony recently but all has been forgiven with the gelding’s win at Sandown.
Chief Altony recorded victory in Wednesday’s Ladbrokes Cash In Handicap (1600m) after a luckless recent outing at Flemington on June 5.
And to compound matters, Chief Altony missed a start at Caulfield last Saturday when an emergency.
But that mattered little for Rae who welcomed the win from Chief Altony.
Sent off the $4.40 favourite under Thomas Stockdale, Chief Altony scored by 1-¾ lengths from Facemask ($13) with Denero ($31) three-quarters-of-a-length away third.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and nothing made a lot of ground last Saturday,” Rae said.
“Everything happens for a reason and the horse is on the up. We were coming back in grade today while going up in weight, and we were coming off a luckless effort last start.
“But you can’t knock winning.”
Rae revealed had Chief Altony been successful at Flemington last start instead of being a luckless fourth as the $2 favourite, the gelding would have been on a different path.
Instead of claiming a benchmark 70 grade race at a midweek meeting, Chief Altony may have been running at Flemington on Saturday in the Listed VRC/CRV Winter Championship Final.
“That didn’t work out, so we came back to the drawing board,” Rae said.
“It’s always nice to win races, so he’ll continue to go through his classes and I’m sure he’ll get to open grade at some stage and he’ll take us there in his own time.
“But it was good to watch today.
“There was obviously good speed on which worked in our favour nicely.
“It shows that when the racing gods are on your side, there’s not much you can do from our side of the fence.”
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au