AS someone in the early days of his training career, Dubbo’s Justin Stanley knows how lucky he is to have a galloper as consistent as The Brown One.
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Stanley, son of well-known trainer Peter Stanley, has only been in the training game for roughly 12 months after a number of years in the saddle and he got himself another victory on Monday with The Brown One winning at Wellington.
The mare led from virtually start to finish on Monday in the Mountains And Rivers Flying (1100m) and the winning trainer was delighted in his sometimes-moody five-year-old’s performance.
“They’re hard to find, I know that,” Stanley said regarding a horse as consistent as The Brown One.
“She’s just a lovely, honest mare and she can be a handful at times, a bit out of control, but I can deal with that.”
All the pre-race focus was on the Rick Worthington-trained Not A Hint, who started the event as a $1.90 favourite with Greg Ryan in the saddle.
But Adrian Layt got The Brown One ($9) to start brilliantly from gate nine and the pair got to the lead almost immediately from the Frank Hayes-trained In Ernest ($7) and Godliness ($13).
As they reached the bend for home The Brown One and In Ernest were side by side but the Hayes-trained gelding quickly faded while Godliness and the highly-rated Jest Crewsin’ ($5) made a charge.
But on a softer track, which The Brown One much prefers, she held them at bay and went on to win by two lengths from the Jim McMillan-trained Godliness while Jest Crewsin was a further neck back.
“She kicked really well and probably the best she ever has,” Stanley said.
“I was a bit worried when they were coming up on her when they turned for home but she kicked really well.”
The victorious trainer also took some time to praise the effort of winning jockey, Layt.
“He rode her a couple of starts ago and was perfect and I’ve known him for years and always rides well,” he said.
“He’s an underrated rider probably and never got the chance he deserves but he’s never done anything wrong.”
The Brown One came into the race on the back of two second-placed finishes at Dubbo and Wellington and Stanley admitted it was nice to go that one spot better.
“Especially when you’re training a mare, they’re twice as hard and very moody and you got to keep them in the right condition,” he said.
The win was the mare’s eighth in 34 starts and takes her prize money past the $90,000 mark.
