Jack is back and bags seven

Talented Victorian reinsman Jack Laugher hasn’t missed a beat after a short stint on the harness racing sidelines, grabbing a “super seven” wins and writing his name into the record books.

Laugher steered his bag of winners at Friday night’s Mildura meeting – falling short of the national record of nine set by Mark Pitt at Launceston earlier this year, but becoming the only other Australian driver, according to HRA records, to record more than six at one meeting.

“I felt like I was going up there with a couple of good chances, and they all looked like they would earn a cheque if they had good runs – I guess they got good runs!” Laugher, of Bendigo, said.

“I’ve done five wins twice before, both at Mildura, but that was definitely the best night I’ve had – I probably should have just retired!” he joked.

The 23-year-old had over a month on the sidelines through suspension, but still sits in fourth spot on the State Driver’s Premiership, with 89 wins for the season.

And he wasted no time in getting back into the winner’s circle on his return at Kilmore on Thursday night (Jul. 14), winning on the Julie Douglas-trained Write About Angus (Sportswriter) at his first drive.  He then made it a double, and between the Kilmore and Mildura meetings, recorded nine wins from 15 drives.

“It’s frustrating being out, but to be honest, it did let me refresh a bit,” Laugher said.

“I’m still working six horses for my dad (Michael) here, so there’s still plenty to do, but it was nice to just work them and not be rushing to get everything done before I’ve got to get to the trots,” he said.

“I didn’t get away or anything, just went home for a couple of days, but it was a good chance to slow down for a while.”

WRITE ABOUT ANGUS REPLAY

The final victory of Laugher’s seven, on the Julie Douglas-trained Rockybomba (Rocknroll Dance) was an even more significant personal milestone – the 500th of his career.

“I had no idea at all!  But the Mildura track has been pretty good to me. It’s always a challenge because there’s never a night when something unexpected doesn’t happen!” he said.

“But it’s always worth the trip because if I go up there and go around 10 or 11 times, even without weighing in, it’s a week’s wages, really. It is a big commitment though.

“It’s a 24-hour day, pretty much, because you have to get up that bit earlier to get everything done at the stables, and by the time you get home, there’s only a couple of hours before you need to get up and get going again.”

ROCKYBOMBA REPLAY

But even Laugher might agree that his best luck of the night came in race two, where the now infamous incident on the first corner of the 800 metre Mildura circuit left four drivers injured.

Laugher had crossed to the lead when the horse taking the trail appeared to blunder and fell.

“Ryan (Sanderson) had let me go to the front and I didn’t even know his horse had gone down – it didn’t make any noise at all. The first I knew was I heard (commentator) Luke Humphries calling it,” Laugher said.

“I looked back then and saw the carnage.  I was definitely pretty lucky to be out of it.”

Laugher has three drives at Yarra Valley today – Bettor Sport and Denstown for the Ben Yole stable, and Sertorious, for David Kaa.

For complete Mildura race results, click here.

For complete Yarra Valley race entries, click here.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink