Apprentice keeps cool to outride his claim

Damian Lane has out-ridden his claim for the second time in a week after partnering the Danny O’Brien-trained Keep Cool to victory in the Comic Court Handicap (2000m).

Lane, who was first past the post on Green Roller at Moonee Valley on Friday night before losing the race on protest, joked that he was much more confident of keeping the race this time around.

“I’ve out-ridden my claim previously for fifteen minutes, but it’s good to do it today,” Lane said, after Saturday's victory.

“The horse went really well, he beat a decent little staying field of inform horses.

“He didn’t have much luck at Moonee Valley and the blinkers today really switched him on, it was a good win.”

Settling in third position behind Tuscan Fire ($4.60), Lane waited until the home straight before angling off the leader’s back and asking Keep Cool for his final effort.

Despite taking the entire straight to run him down, Keep Cool prevailed by a head at the finish over Tuscan Fire with a similar margin to Elusive King ($6) in third.

Speaking after the victory, O’Brien paid tribute to Lane’s ride saying

“Once you can ride them like that, you probably don’t need a claim anymore,” O’Brien said.

“He’s a horse that can lay-in and not really stretch into his finish so it was a really good piece of horsemanship to get him across the line.”

Story by Ben Asgari, to view full Racing Victoria Limited story click here

Photo by Bruno Cannatelli, to view Bruno's website click here