Tuesday, July 3, 2018
As Glenroy trainer Richard Clayfield tells it, it’s really been a case of Lone Star, an impressive winner last week, living in the shadow of his litter brother and kennelmate Solitary Lad.
“He ran second to Solitary Lad in last year’s John Reid Memorial before winning three races but by the end of the year he had been sidelined by injury and at one stage it was doubtful whether he would race again.
“Meanwhile, Solitary Lad strung together five wins this year while Lone Star was off the scene for such a length of time that when I was finally ready to nominate him he had been required to run a satisfactory trial due to the fact that he hadn’t raced for more than six months.
“I have to say that I was disappointed with his first two runs back after his satisfactory trial and was starting to wonder whether he would be able to recapture his 2017 winning form,” Clayfield said.
Well, Lone Star finally came out of the shadows at last Friday’s time-graded meeting, leading all the way in the Klaassens Contractors Stake (512 m) to win by 4¾ lengths in a personal best 30.04 seconds.
All up, the sons of Lonesome Cry x Up And Away have now won 17 races for Clayfield and owner Ann Sinnott, of Yambuk.