HORSE RACING

MATT Laurie has once again found success at the rich VOBIS raceday at Caulfield.

Laurie, who took out the $950,000 VOBIS Showdown with Prince of Sussex three years ago, combined again with the same ownership group to win the $500,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas with Chartres on Saturday.

Also by rising Victorian stallion Toronado, Chartres was given a perfect ride by jockey Ethan Brown to swoop around the field and continue to kick in the straight to win by just under a length.

The Mornington-based trainer was pleased to see their plan pay off.

“This was the priority. In conjunction with Paul [Dugan] (owner), we’ve had this race in mind a long way out so it’s just nice when things come off,” Matt Laurie said.

“He’s a genuine little horse this bloke. He hasn’t run a bad race yet and he just looked really well placed against this field today and it was good to see him put them away.”

The victory provided Ethan Brown with a race-to-race double having also won the VOBIS Gold Distaff aboard the Michael Kent-trained Comica.

Brown was thrilled to deliver for the loyal owners.

“It’s just great that they stuck with me,” he said. “I was very grateful for that and to get the job done on the grand final makes everything worthwhile.

“He’s a nice horse and not much has gone right this preparation running into track bias’s and what not but his work here was really good on Tuesday. I had a head full of confidence today and I’m glad he let down the way we knew he could.”

Brown also guided the Laurie-trained two-year-old Volander to a third placing in the feature VOBIS Showdown later in the day.

First published in the Mornington News – 26 April 2022