Victorian-bred eight-year-old Stroke Of Luck gave convincing proof that he is not a spent force when he gave a sparkling frontrunning display to win the 1730m DTS Farmlock Fence Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, rating 1.53.
“He is a lovely horse and we tried to sell him to the United States recently, but he was rejected for being too old,” said in-form trainer Ross Olivieri. “So, we will just keep poking around, looking for races that suit him.”
Stroke Of Luck, owned by the Merv Butterworth Racing syndicate, was second favourite at $3.50 from the prized No. 1 barrier and champion reinsman Chris Lewis made every post a winner, setting a brisk pace with quarters of 28.2sec., 28.5sec., 27.9sec. and 28.7sec. and keeping the $1.90 favourite Mighty Conqueror at bay in the breeze.
Mighty Conqueror moved on terms with Stroke Of Luck with 400m to travel, but Lewis had something up his sleeve and the old gelding fought on grandly to win by a half-neck from the fast-finishing Chiaroscuro, with Mighty Conqueror a similar margin away in third place.
The win ended a losing sequence of 11 (including just two placings) and Olivieri said that Stroke Of Luck was a brave performer, who had shown that he was ready to break through for another win a week earlier when he finished second to Texas Tiger. Olivieri also praised the effort of Mighty Conqueror, saying: “It was a great run by Mighty Conqueror to race outside of Stroke Of Luck and finish so close to him. It shows that it is harder to sit in the breeze than race on the fence.”
Stroke Of Luck, the only foal out of the unraced Armbro Operative mare Bonton Lady, began his racing career in New Zealand and showed plenty of early promise, finishing fifth behind Lazarus at Alexandra park and then finishing fourth behind that superstar pacer in the New Zealand Derby at Addington in April 2016.
Stroke Of Luck has earned $228,859 from 16 wins and 21 placings from 75 starts.
By Ken Casellas