Silvern Breaks City Drought
- Wednesday, 17 August 2011 07:15
Jason McLachlan declared he was still learning the training trade after speedster Silvern broke through for his first city win in almost a year at Eagle Farm.
Silvern, ridden by Eddie Wilkinson, led all the way to down Tierqualo by a long head in Wednesday's Bundaberg Five White Rum Handicap (1300m).
It was Silvern's first victory in the metropolitan area since a Class Five win at Eagle Farm last September.
"This win just goes to show that at the age of 41, I'm still learning," McLachlan said.
"I took blinkers off him after he was beaten at Caloundra last month and since then he's won two from two."
Silver was originally trained by McLachlan's father, the late Bruce McLachlan who died in Stradbroke Handicap week in 2009.
McLachlan Snr always believed Silvern had a bright future since the day he won the Bundamba Plate at Ipswich in 2008 but overall the son of Lujain hasn't lived up to expectations until recently.
Jason McLachlan decided to remove blinkers from Silvern after three successive failures at Caloundra.
"He used to be very quick but for some reason he wasn't jumping so I took the blinkers off him and it's made all the difference," he said.
"He once held the course record for 1000 metres at home (Caloundra) but I'd like to try him over 1600 metres one day."
Jockey Larry Cassidy was back in favour with premier trainer Rob Heathcote following his win on Trump in the Bundaberg Distilling Co. Handicap (1300m).
Trump, having his first start since April, finished strongly to down Black Jag by a long neck with Punch On a further 1-1/4 lengths away third.
Cassidy and Heathcote have been a formidable team together over the past 12 months but in recent times Jim Byrne has been doing the bulk of the stable's riding.
Heathcote and Cassidy both predicted a promising future for Trump who left the rider with a sore left shoulder after the Written Tycoon gelding jammed him up against the barriers.
Heathcote, who also won earlier with Gotcha in the Sirromet Love My Good Times Maiden Plate (1400m), has only had Trump for four starts.
"He had his first two runs for David Payne in Sydney and the first thing I did when I got him was to have him gelded," Heathcote said.
"He was a bit of a wayward lad when I got him but I liked him from day one and I told his owners he'd make a nice miler.
"But the smartest thing I did with him was send him on a road trip to Rockhampton which taught him to travel."
Cassidy's win was later soured in the stewards' room when he was suspended for seven meetings for careless riding aboard Fractions in the Country Cup (1200m).
Cassidy's suspension will commence after next Saturday's Doomben meeting and conclude at midnight on September 1.
