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STAR Diesel has hit the winners board in just his second run for the stable after registering his first Victorian win at Kyneton on Thursday. The son of Star Turn hadn&rsquo;t saluted in almost 12 months to the day but followed up a good first run for the team at Seymour to score, aided by a first-class ride from Rhys McLeod. &ldquo;He had a rating that we thought this time of year in Victoria we could place him well to win some races,&rdquo; Toby Lake said of the new acquisition. &ldquo;I thought the blinkers had sharpened him up at home and it looked that way he was in for the fight late. &ldquo;Maybe we could sneak down to Moonee Valley one Friday night and find a suitable race for him.&rdquo; The four-year-old boasts solid provincial form in New South Wales and looks like he can be further placed to advantage throughout the Victorian summer. The stables last 10 runners have included two victories and three placings with only one horse missing the weigh in stalls. <a href="https://www.racing.com/form/2024-12-12/bet365-park-kyneton/race/6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Click here to view the race replay</a> Congratulasitons to the connectiobs of Star Diesel: D Willis, C Guerra, J Williams, S Moore, A Lamshed, B Jennings, A Lewis, D Holland, S Sewell, G Banis, Dr M Zacharia, R Priestley, P Tonkin, T Nation, D Smith, A Hill, B Bayot, SBR No.1, A Gold, M Schiavello

Diesel shows his engine

Toby Lake

FIELDELO appears to have a bright future after the daughter of Deep Field broke her maiden on debut at Kilmore on Cup Day last Sunday. Ridden by Jye McNeil over 1100 metres and sent off race favourite after some smart jump outs, she was in for the fight late and held off a determined challenge from Sweethearted, with the third placegetter some 4.5-lengths astern. &ldquo;She was travelling that comfortable I got to the front too soon and she had a look around and pricked the ears and once challenged she obviously had a little bit left in the locker,&rdquo; McNeil said. &ldquo;With the right education moving forward to finish off the product I think she will develop into a nice horse.&rdquo; Fieldelo has continued to improve the longer she has been in training and is a testament to her owners patience, headed by Mark Schiavello who has thankfully entrusted her with us. The filly will now enjoy a break and come back with further room to improve in 2025 with eyes on city and stakes class races. &ldquo;She has impressed me the whole way through,&rdquo; Lake said. &ldquo;She will go to the paddock, she has done a fantastic job this time in and we will give her a month out.&rdquo; Fieldelo, who was passed in at the Melbourne Premier Sale and is the first foal from a five-time Lope de Vega winning mare, is a testament to our systems educating young horses at Bendigo and we hope our first yearling crop can also follow in her footsteps. It started a good few days for the stable as stablemate Eire to the Jungle was an unlucky second at Ararat last Tuesday and is knocking on the door for a maiden win. <a href="https://www.racing.com/form/2024-11-24/bet365-park-kilmore/race/1#/results" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Click here to view race replay</a> Congratulations to the connections of Fieldelo:&nbsp;M A Schiavello

Fieldelo off to a flyer

DANDRUFF has once again showed his liking for the Swan Hill circuit with his second dominant win at the track in as many starts on Tuesday.
Having won by 4.75-lengths back in April over the 2400 metres, ironically the margin was the same with a well rated ride from Dakotah Keane.
&ldquo;It was a good training effort, they were confident and he was fit,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;He maintains and doesn&rsquo;t quicken, once I kicked on the corner you&rsquo;d think I&rsquo;d gone too early&hellip; but he&rsquo;s got a lot of upside.
&ldquo;I felt like if he got challenged he would have pinned his ears back and kept kicking.&rdquo;
The six-year-old son of Written Tycoon, who had to overcome two sinus operations before he ever raced, could now be set on a path towards Jericho Cup Day on December 1.
<a href="https://www.racing.com/form/2024-10-29/swan-hill/race/6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Click here to view the replay</a>
Congratulations to the connections of Dandruff: Smart Racing Stables &amp; Jacob Rule

Swan Hill suits Dandruff just fine

THE last 12 months have flown by and our stable has recently completed our first racing season! This year we&rsquo;ve worked really hard behind the scenes to set our business up for the future and worked diligently to focus on yearlings to achieve sustained racetrack success. I am pleased to say almost six months on and our yearlings are now two-year-olds and are all developing as I&rsquo;d hoped and coping well with the transition that comes with becoming a racehorse. Therefore, I am excited to show off in our two minute video below our final THREE remaining horses with shares available in them, to give you an insight on my&nbsp; thoughts on each of their prospects after riding them in their early education. There is a sprinter by boom new kid on the block sire Blue Point, stayer by the exciting G1 star Russian Camelot and an early runner by Niconni, so a horse to suit all budgets to check out! More details and pedigrees can be found via <a href="https://www.lakeracing.com.au/ownership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lakeracing.com.au/ownership</a> 
WATCH: Toby's introduces 2024 yearlings 
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/994986317" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

WATCH: 2 mins to highlight our 2yo's

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Online store launched with FanFave

Courtesy of Racing and Sports 
THE&nbsp;Showdown, Saturday's feature event the Owners and Breeders Raceday at Caulfield, is not a race Steven Marsden and his family have had circled on the calendar for a long time. Not because they didn't dream of the winning the $1 million event with bargain buy Linkvue, they just didn't expect the Toby Lake-trained gelding to be ready for it. But that all changed in the lead-up to the VOBIS Gold Rush at Bendigo on April 13. "We were thinking (this campaign) he was going to have a trial or two and go back out to grow, because he's got a bit of upside with his growing, but Toby said, 'you've got to run this horse at Bendigo'," Marsden said. "He'd had a couple of soft trials, which was always the plan, but then he said, 'you better go to the races, because he's just going so well'." Linkvue justified Lake's call with a second placing in the $250,000 Gold Rush, beaten only by one-time Blue Diamond favourite Bold Bastille. It has Marsden, his brother Alan and father Lyle wondering what they might be able to achieve with the son of Overshare who was bought for just $15,000 out of the Showcase Session at last year's Inglis Premier Yearling Sale. Steven and Alan teamed up two years ago to unearth some sales gems with Steven, a farrier, stockman and former trainer who once prepared Norman Robinson Stakes runner-up and Victoria Derby runner Skilero, in charge of inspections and Alan ticking off the bloodlines. Linkvue, who is out of the Bernardini mare Linkville, was one that Steven thought had scope to develop beyond the small yearling that might have deterred other potential buyers. "I just purely go on type, because they've all got good bloodlines somewhere, but we want to try and buy and athlete, or something that can turn into an athlete," Marsden said. Linkvue was broken in by Bruce O'Dell and then took up residence Trevenson Park, where he was in and out of work before heading to Lake. The gelding has his young trainer excited and Marsden has been buoyed by the reports since his debut. "Obviously there's the very good horse in the race, Bold Bastille, and I mentioned to them, and that there was probably some other good ones coming through, but he said they'll all have to be on their A-game to beat him," Marsden said. Victory would be satisfying beyond the big payday it would bring with Linkvue's jockey Jamie Mott to sport the family colours, which were carried by now-87-year-old Lyle's horses for decades and are still seen on horses trained by another son, Bryan. "Alan really wanted to get him in those colours because they're the family colours," Marsden said. "Dad's been a bit unwell and he likes to go to the races, but he doesn't go very often. But he's hoping to come on Saturday."

Linking up for shot at $1m Showdown

A trip over the New South Wales border paid off on Monday when The Cast Off made it two wins from four starts and the second triumph in a week for Lake Racing. As well as Dandruff&rsquo;s victory at Swan Hill last Tuesday, it was also a big thrill for the stable on Saturday to have Linkvue finish second on debut in the $250k Vobis Gold Rush at Bendigo. The Cast Off had the blinkers reapplied for the first time since her debut win at Hanging Rock and swept home from last at Albury to run over the top of her older rivals over 2000 metres. &ldquo;They went really quick early, I was a bit worried early I was obviously a long way off them but she worked into it really nicely,&rdquo; jockey Laura Lafferty said. &ldquo;She needed every bit of that 2000 metres so she&rsquo;ll be cherry ripe for her next start and she just keeps progressing every time she steps onto the racetrack.&rdquo; That next start for The Cast Off is set to be in the $200,000 Listed VRC St Ledger (2800m) at Flemington on Anzac Day. The $3250 online purchase by Pariah has now banked $25,625 in just four starts for her connections. It&rsquo;s shaping up as a big few weeks upcoming for the stable with Linkvue now set to tackle the $1 million Showdown at Caulfield on April 27. <a href="https://racing.racingnsw.com.au/InteractiveForm/Meeting.aspx?meetcode=ODg3MTY5ODcwNA%3d%3d#Race1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Click here to watch the replay</a> Congratulations to the connections of The Cast Off:&nbsp;A McTaggart, K McTaggart, One More Please, S Barlow, S Featherstone, K McTaggart and A Byrne

St Ledger looms for The Cast Off

Courtesy of Racing.com LOCAL trainer Toby Lake is a firm believer in home-ground advantage, which will come to the fore when his two-year-old gelding Linkvue debuts in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) at Bendigo on Saturday. He knows Linkvue is facing an enormous task in taking on a horse of the quality of Bold Bastille, but he said his youngster will have an advantage with his superior track knowledge. "Linkvue mightn't be the best two-year-old in the race, but he'll be one of the better-educated ones and we're hoping that will take us a long way," Lake said. "Harry Coffey will ride. He jumped on him at Avoca this morning. "There's no doubt Bold Bastille will be hard to beat but I'm sure we'll be there somewhere in the finish. "I've had the ability to be able to educate him on the course proper and I've really got to thank the Bendigo Jockey Club for that and it's going to hold us in good stead. "He's a well-educated, well put together, compact two-year-old. "He's bombproof in the sense he'll be able to put himself on the speed and give a good account of himself. "I'm happy with his jumpout at Avoca this morning. We've put a good base on him and he's ready for the race." Lake said Linkvue was a $15,000 purchase at the Melbourne Premier Sale. "It's a great result for the Marsland family, who bought the horse. He was only a $15,000 yearling and he's in action in a $250,000 race, which is something new for this stable," he said. Lake would love to join Danny Curran as a local trainer to have won the VOBIS Gold Rush, after he was successful in 2016 with The Big Dance. "This is our big meeting of the year. The Big Dance was a great story and it would be quite remarkable if it could happen again," Lake said. "That was a pretty amazing performance from Danny being able to win such a race from a small stable at Bendigo and I'd love people to be saying the same about me on Saturday." Lake, who has been training for 10 months, said he and the other local conditioners at Bendigo are aware of the opportunity and privilege they have in hosting a city meeting with big prizemoney on a Saturday. "It's good to have some fantastic prizemoney on offer on our home track. It's not something we usually have the luxury of," he said. "Not many country tracks and race clubs can run a standalone Saturday meeting and I'm sure the local community will get behind the day. I'm really looking forward to it."

Linkvue's local Gold Rush advantage

Courtesy of Bendigo Advertiser ABOUT 12 months after he nearly succumbed to complications from sinus surgery, Dandruff gave Bendigo trainer Toby Lake and his owners a massive thrill on Tuesday after breaking his maiden at Swan Hill. The five-year-old gelding - ridden by Tahlia Hope - showed signs of staying promise, prevailing over 2400m at career start number five. Well placed outside the leader Best Scenario throughout the trip, Hope took Dandruff to the front at the 600m, from where he took control and showed no signs of slowing on his way to a 4.75 lengths victory. The win was a reward for Lake and his stable staff's persistence and perseverance. "He had two sinus operations and he had some complications out of it," Lake explained. "About 12 month ago, it didn't look good - it looked like we were going to have to put him down. So there's a bit of a story behind it. "(Former jockey) Jacob Rule, who owns half of him and does a bit of work for me at Bendigo, has done a bit of work with the horse and he's done a terrific job. "It's a good team effort, but kudos to the horse. He was down on the canvas 12 months ago, but he's done a good job." Still in his first preparation despite being a five-year-old, Dandruff had shown some signs of previous promise in finishing third twice, including in his last start at Pakenham in late March. While Lake was quick to downplay the strength of Tuesday's maiden race, he was, however, optimistic the son of Written Tycoon could show signs of progress over the coming months. "Hopefully at this time of year, he might be able to go through the grades a bit," he said. "We think he might appreciate the cut in the ground too. "It wasn't much of a maiden - it was a mile and a half maiden at Swan Hill on a Tuesday - but it looks as though he might be a bit progressive." Hope, who rode Dandruff in a trial at Echuca a week before his first start at Bendigo in February, praised the trainer and his team for a 'great job' with the comeback galloper. "They've been patient. I trialled him a little while ago at Echuca and he just gave me that feeling he would just stay all day," she said. "I took bad luck out of the equation and went forward and just made him roll into it. "It's a beautiful long straight (at Swan Hill) and I was hoping I hadn't pushed the button too early, but he gets to his top speed and just sustains it. "I thought he'd be pretty unlucky to get run down, but we might as well go for it while we are here." Training win number five for Lake could not have come at a more pleasing time as the young trainer prepares to saddle up his first Golden Mile race day runner on his home track on Saturday. Lake will tackle the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) with the first starter Linkvue.

Dandruff head and shoulders above

Courtesy of Racing.com TOBY Lake worked alongside several top trainers before taking out his training licence in the middle of last year and that's why he's prepared to give his recent winner Chalice Well her opportunity in the 55 Second Challenge (955m) at The Valley on Friday night.
"She's a city class horse. I'm quietly confident about this race but whether it's this race, I know she's going to make a nice racehorse with her best still 12 months away," Lake said.
The first year Bendigo-based trainer produced Chalice Well to win her debut for him at Kyneton, which was only her second start.
Lake purchased Chalice Well from fellow Bendigo trainer Danny Curran knowing that she was a filly with talent but one with poor barrier manners.
"I've known Danny for a long time and I really wanted him to stay in her. We knew if we could fix her barrier issue, she would be a smart horse," Lake said. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuxotX15-g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Chalice Well set for 955 at The Valley</a>
Lake had Chalice Well in work for six to seven months before she ran at Kyneton because, in addition to her barrier problem, she was also a 'hot filly' who did 'everything upside down'.
"She's a quirky mare who had developed bad barrier manners," Lake said.
"I thought If I could get her to jump out of the barrier and also harness her aggressive nature, then she could make a good horse."
Lake said he had taken a leaf out of Chris Waller's training manual and what he did with a horse such as Nature Strip, teaching Chalice Well to relax and harness her energy in her trials.
"I just want her to settle, whether that's third or fourth or even last. She's very, very raw. She needs to be learning something every time she steps out," Lake said.
"I was glad there was good speed in the race at Kyneton as if she could relax in the first half of it, she would be too good. She's a city horse in the making if I can teach her and let her get there in her own time."
As well as Lake and Curran, Chalice Well is raced by a syndicate that also includes former jockey Jacob Rule, who works with Lake, and several Racing.com employees.
"I've only been training for six months and I'm starting to gain some momentum. It would be great to get my first city winner for such a fantastic ownership group," he said.
Lake also produced Boho Miss to win at Ballarat on Wednesday, giving him his third winner from his past five starters.

WATCH: 2 mins to highlight our 2yo's

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