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Trainer Mark Walker got his tactics spot on to oversee a smart victory from Eclair Sensation who took home the Mistubishi Electric Asia Stakes $55,000 Class 4 race over 1100m on Sunday.
The Australian-bred bay gelding recorded a half length victory over Prince Gonski (Corey Brown) in a winning time of 1min 5.44sec with Primera Espada (App Shafiq Rizuan) a further one and three quarters-length away in third.
The galloper had been denied a run after being caught in traffic in his last start and Walker was determined to learn from past lessons.
Instructions were passed to jockey Lisa Allpress, who last rode Eclair Sensation four starts ago, with the intention of preventing a similar situation from occurring.
“I told Lisa not to be afraid to cover more ground today,” said the New Zealand conditioner. “Just give him a wide berth and keep him rolling along and he’ll do well.”
Despite jumping poorly from barrier nine which left him at the rear of the 11 runners in the initial stages, Eclair Sensation took advantage of an undisturbed run from out wide to sweep home in impressive fashion.
“He was just too strong today,” said Allpress. “We were gaining well on Prince Gonski and I was very happy with the way he ran today.
“He’s not a horse that likes to start and stop so it was good that we had a nice uninterrupted run all the way,” she said. “I always had the plan in my head and I just stuck with it. I wasn’t worried about what the others were doing.”
“He’s a nice solid horse and he’s been knocking on the door in recent months so it was nice to get that win for Mark and the owners,” said the New Zealand rider, who notched her 14th win of the season since joining on a short-term visiting licence in September.
She added her 15th victory and made it a winning double with her fellow Kiwi Walker after the pair combined successfully again with the victory of Gods Speed in Race 9 later on Sunday.
Eclair Sensation, a four-year-old of Street Sense by Aristocracy, has recorded three wins from 16 starts and is inching closer to the $100,000 mark in stakes earning for owner Li Chu Kwan.