Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Portland trainer Neville “Nifty” Lenehan was on target at Tara Raceway last Sunday when Targeted Missile won the opening event and litter sister Twisted Missile followed up in the second race.
Targeted Missile, who went into the Laser Electrical Maiden Stake (400 metres) with a record of four seconds and three thirds from seven starts, was finally rewarded for his consistency when leading all the way to defeat School Report by 8¼ lengths in a pretty handy 23.32 seconds.
And Twisted Missile, whose career kicked off in a blaze of glory when she won a heat and then defeated the seemingly luckless School Report in the final of the Sims Memorial Maiden (512 m) at Tara Raceway in January, found winning form again in the Fairthorne Forestry Stake (400 m).
Midfield early, the black bitch gained a rails run down the back before finding the front turning for home and running out a 1¼ length winner over Zipping Melody in 23.71 seconds, Lenehan putting the 2½-month space between wins down to “a few niggling injuries and the fact that she had struggled to come to terms with Warrnambool and Angle Park when tried at those tracks.”
By Nitro Burst, last Sunday’s winners are out of the second of three litters for Harper Seven – a winner of seven races on Victorian provincial tracks – Lenehan whelping down the this particular litter for Botanic Ridge owner Karen Pitt.
Later on Sunday, Bekim Instinct, from Harper Seven’s first litter, by Bekim Bale, ran second to Pure Profit in the Swallow Drive Meats Stake (512 m) for Landsborough trainer Kerry Jenner and will line up again this Sunday from box one in the Trackside Meats Mixed Stake (600 m).
Lenehan’s last training double was almost 12 months ago when Boomer Hargen and Tilly Rocks were successful at Tara Raceway. He said both his winners of last week would go around again on Sunday and added that he still had two more of the Nitro Burst litter to put through their paces.