Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Brilliant four-year-old Lavra Joe, who was a warm favourite when he overraced in the breeze and faded to finish last behind Diego last Friday week, returned to form with a vengeance at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he was driven quietly before finishing powerfully to win the Group 3 Howard Porter Memorial.
A week earlier Lavra Joe hit the wheels of his sulky and became fired up, leaving owner-trainer Ray Jones with the task of solving this problem.
“I extended the shafts of his sulky by about five centimetres to prevent him from hitting the wheels,” said Jones. “And he didn’t get fired up. Last week he was chased out of the gate and then he wanted to keep going and overraced.
“The plan tonight was for Chris (Lewis) to keep him quiet in the preliminary and tuck him in to give him a bit of education. You can’t face the breeze all the time. I hated it last week when he finished last. It was no good for a horse to have a gut buster.
“Having an ideal run in the one-out, one-back position tonight before finishing strongly was great for his confidence.”
Hampton Banner, the $2.40 second fancy, set the pace and was kept honest by $23 chance Vultan Tin in the breeze, while Lavra Joe (favourite at $1.70) enjoyed a perfect trip before Lewis started a three-wide run 600m from home. Lavra Joe took a narrow lead 100m from the post and went on to win by a head from Hampton Banner. The final 400m sections were run in 27.8sec. and 28.2sec. and Lavra Joe rated a slick 1.54.6 over the 2130m journey.
Lavra Joe now has earned $393,469 from 25 wins and nine placings from 42 starts.