Miki Knows still learning

Miki Knows (Always B Miki) proved he was up to a better class when he held on to win the main pacing race of the day at the Invercargill Harness Racing Clubs meeting at Ascot Park today.

He was the least experienced pacer in the nine horse field having only eleven starts but that counted for nothing. Driver Blair Orange took the Jeremy Douglas trained gelding to the top and he went on to win by a neck from Wattlebank Arnie (Bettor’s Delight) which came up the passing lane.

“He’s a big dumb bugger and only does what he has to. Even though the margin wasn’t big, Blair said the horse did it well within himself. He does the bare minimum whether it’s trackwork or at the races,” Douglas said.

He said there’s no doubting the four year old’s ability, he just needs the brain to catch up.

“He left the gate good today, but he’s just got to stop goofing around. In a couple of races he’s made a mistake just after the start by doing silly things.”

Owned by Joe and Raeleen Thompson, their daughter Nic Keast, her husband Stephen and Stu Campbell, Miki Knows will now head to Cup Week.

MIKI KNOWS REPLAY

“I have to talk to Blair and the owners to see which race he’ll be in, but he may well race on Cup Day and Show Day. We had toyed with going in the South of the Waitaki but he’s too highly rated for that now and we want to test him against the Canterbury horses.”

Douglas has travelled north before with Miki Knows, and he ran third behind The Falcon (Bettor’s Delight) in February.

“There’s still a lot of improvement in him. He needed that run today to tighten him up. Because he’s such a lazy horse you can only get him fit by racing him.”

Today’s win was the horse’s fourth.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink