Winning Horse: Excelman (NZ)

4yoG Reliable Man (GB) - Glory Run (Aus)(Exceed And Excel (Aus))

16 starts - 3 wins 2 seconds 3 thirds 4 fourths $176980

Other Wins

1st Cranbourne Frankston Sand Soil&Mini-Bm64 2025m (2020)

1st Pakenham Ontoit Mdn 1200m (2019) (Debut Run)

Other Placings

2nd Caulfield Next Payments (Bm70) 1800m (2021)

3rd Sandown-Lakeside Tile Importer (Bm64) 1600m (2021)

3rd Cranbourne Mercedes-Benz Mornington-Bm64 1500m (2021)

2nd Cranbourne Peter Mcevoy (Bm64) 1600m (2020)

3rd Flemington Flt Lt Peter Armytage Hcp 1700m (2020)

Race Result:

1st: Excelman (J Kah/R Laming) - $2.20F

2nd: Smokin’ Pierro (L King/M Payne) - $12
3rd: Skelm (D Yendall/T Kelly) - $9.50

Winning Time: 2:03.50 Last 600m: N/A

Margins: 2½L x 1¼L

Winning Trainer: Richard Laming

“This horse definitely deserved that and so do the owners. He’s had some bad luck, realistically, his whole life so he deserves a Saturday win but, geez, I don’t like getting too bullsh with him because he can find some bad luck.

“Jamie put that out of the question pretty quickly. She rode him absolutely perfectly and that’s how you want to see those $2 shots win.

“I was a little bit worried she could have been boxed back on the fence but she made sure that didn’t happen and he was going to win a long way out. Very impressive and I’m very happy for those involved.

“I think these sorts of races over the next couple of months are right up his alley and we’ll chip away at them. Hopefully he can win some more.”

Winning Jockey: Jamie Kah

“We had to push the button a little bit sooner than I wanted to, but I’ve been in that trap before where they come around you at the 1000 (metre mark) at this track. I wasn’t letting that happen today so I popped off and tried to keep him in a good rhythm. He was the horse to beat in this race and he made my job very easy.

“I was happy when we landed closer but with that comes horses swooping earlier and you could be stuck in a pocket, so I had to pop off in the three-wide line earlier than I wanted to but he was too good and he gave me a lovely ride.

“He’s a beautiful ride, he’s quiet and he’s a jockey’s dream out there.”