Trainer, Neville Saunders opted to kick off Lonaro’s preparation with
two lead up trials. “He won them with his head on his chest – I’m struggling to find any chinks in his armour.” Lonaro’s track work always hinted toward his potential, however he has not delivered when it mattered. That is, until he stepped out in the fourth at Toowoomba yesterday – a maiden over 1100 metres. Lonaro demonstrated that he had returned from his long lay-off in tremendous order – and perhaps had matured in to a real race horse.
After the jump, jockey Kirsty Banks guided Lonaro to the rail with cover, and then at the turn, peeled from the back of the leaders and quickly found the front. Pukekura Boy emerged from the pack and for a moment loomed as a threat, however Lonaro knuckled down in the closing stages and was doing his best work on the line, drawing away, to win by more than two lengths from Pukekura Boy. and more than six lengths from the Third placed Yo’s Selection.
