Happy to be beaten

WHILE not overly ecstatic about it, Blake Fitzpatrick was happy to be beaten in the opening event at Club Menangle today.

Fitzpatrick drove Fancy which finished third behind her stablemates On Advice and Lucky Charm in a Foundation Series heat.

Along with the satisfaction of training the trifecta in the two-year-old event, Fitzpatrick was pleased to see On Advice “finally produce his best.”

“I always had a good opinion of him as ability-wise he is the best of my two-year-old trotters,” Fitzpatrick said.

“He’s quite a smart horse, but highly strung, and his manners have been letting him down.

“For whatever reason I couldn’t get him away so gave Gavin (brother) a go at driving him today and it’s seems to have paid off.”

Eased towards the tail of the field from his outside of the front row draw, On Advice was sent forward three-wide during the middle stages to test the leader, Dream Inception, from the ‘death seat’.

Forging his way to the front at the top of the home straight, the gelding sprinted to a nine-metre win in 2:00.8 over a mile.

“He put in a much better run today,” Fitzpatrick said. “In time he should develop into quite a nice horse.

“I’ll continue to race him through the Foundation series then give him a break before bringing him back for the Breeders’ Challenge later in the year.”

Fitzpatrick faces a similar scenario when he returns to the world class venue on Saturday night given he has two runners in The La Coocaracha.

Along with up-and-comer Rolling Secret, Fitzpatrick will be represented by in-form mare Adelle.

Successful last week when first-up from a long spell, Rolling Secret faces a sharp rise in class while Adelle beat open class rivals earlier this month.

The daughter of Orlandi Vici finished second in her two subsequent starts.

“Rolling Secret was impressive winning first-up,” Fitzpatrick said. “She has come back bigger and stronger and is definitely going well enough to give her a shot.

“Adelle is in good form and will be in thereabouts again. She will go for a break after this so it would be good for her to head to a paddock on a winning note.”