Thursday, 10 Apr 2025
Sale disappointment to Golden glory?
Courtesy of Racing.com
TOBY Lake battled a common conundrum faced by many young trainers when he was shopping at his first-ever yearling sale last year at Inglis Premier.
The 27-year-old was taking the plunge into the lottery which is the yearling market and wondered, in his first year of training, just how many horses he could afford to 'spec' and on-sell to owners.
With a dwindling shortlist and limited budget, he had to let slide a Nicconi filly out of Pinker Pinker Plate winner No Excuses Bec who he had taken a liking to, when vendors asked for a $50,000 reserve.
To Lake's surprise, he received a phone call six weeks later from Ian Gilcrist at Fulmen Park, asking if he was still interested in buying the filly at a reduced price.
"'Gilly' rang me to say the owner of the horse had passed away and if I was still interested in buying her, the family wanted to sell down the stock," he recalls.
"She was all of a sudden affordable, but I'd purchased two yearlings at that sale already and didn't know if I could fill another but thankfully Roll the Dice (Racing) backed me in and we've got a great group of owners involved.
"Gilly has stayed in as well which is fantastic - he was my first boss when I moved to Melbourne and worked for Ciaron Maher."
Having finished second in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush last year with $15,000 buy Linkvue, Lake soon identified that he could have another contender for his rich local juvenile race.
"Pretty much since I bought her I've had this race in mind, so you could say it's been a target race and she's prepped up well," he explained.
"She's been a filly we've liked the whole way through and she's showed she's an early going type and has been really straightforward.
"They (Scusies and Linkvue) are similar types of horses, both forward types, I'd say this filly has a little bit more potential to train on and looks as though whatever she does now she will improve on at three."
Scusies, marked an $8.50 chance with Sportsbet, has drawn barrier three and will be ridden by Jye McNeil after a series of quiet jumpouts.
"She was a little bit keen going early on, so you will see in her trials we've restrained her even after beginning well and made sure she has switched off early and finishing off," Lake said.
"I think 1100 metres will be perfect, she might have found the 1000 metres a little bit sharp.
"We've been lucky enough to give her a few gallops on the course proper out of the chute, so that's been a big advantage for us."
Lake also trains the highly promising Fieldelo, who defeated the smart Sweethearted at her only race start back in November on Kilmore Cup Day.
She has resumed training and is being aimed at the Creswick Sprint Series over winter.
Lake joins fellow local trainers Brent Stanley, Rod Symons and Les Robertson with runners on Golden Mile Raceday.
TOBY Lake battled a common conundrum faced by many young trainers when he was shopping at his first-ever yearling sale last year at Inglis Premier.
The 27-year-old was taking the plunge into the lottery which is the yearling market and wondered, in his first year of training, just how many horses he could afford to 'spec' and on-sell to owners.
With a dwindling shortlist and limited budget, he had to let slide a Nicconi filly out of Pinker Pinker Plate winner No Excuses Bec who he had taken a liking to, when vendors asked for a $50,000 reserve.
To Lake's surprise, he received a phone call six weeks later from Ian Gilcrist at Fulmen Park, asking if he was still interested in buying the filly at a reduced price.
"'Gilly' rang me to say the owner of the horse had passed away and if I was still interested in buying her, the family wanted to sell down the stock," he recalls.
"She was all of a sudden affordable, but I'd purchased two yearlings at that sale already and didn't know if I could fill another but thankfully Roll the Dice (Racing) backed me in and we've got a great group of owners involved.
"Gilly has stayed in as well which is fantastic - he was my first boss when I moved to Melbourne and worked for Ciaron Maher."
Having finished second in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush last year with $15,000 buy Linkvue, Lake soon identified that he could have another contender for his rich local juvenile race.
"Pretty much since I bought her I've had this race in mind, so you could say it's been a target race and she's prepped up well," he explained.
"She's been a filly we've liked the whole way through and she's showed she's an early going type and has been really straightforward.
"They (Scusies and Linkvue) are similar types of horses, both forward types, I'd say this filly has a little bit more potential to train on and looks as though whatever she does now she will improve on at three."
Scusies, marked an $8.50 chance with Sportsbet, has drawn barrier three and will be ridden by Jye McNeil after a series of quiet jumpouts.
"She was a little bit keen going early on, so you will see in her trials we've restrained her even after beginning well and made sure she has switched off early and finishing off," Lake said.
"I think 1100 metres will be perfect, she might have found the 1000 metres a little bit sharp.
"We've been lucky enough to give her a few gallops on the course proper out of the chute, so that's been a big advantage for us."
Lake also trains the highly promising Fieldelo, who defeated the smart Sweethearted at her only race start back in November on Kilmore Cup Day.
She has resumed training and is being aimed at the Creswick Sprint Series over winter.
Lake joins fellow local trainers Brent Stanley, Rod Symons and Les Robertson with runners on Golden Mile Raceday.
