ROGER That came again at Wellington on Monday to hand Samantha Clenton her second double since the Muswellbrook apprentice returned to race riding last year.
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It was also a long overdue win for the five-year-old gelding son of Starcraft and his trainer, Muswellbrook- based Stephen Gleeson.
Gleeson also had Ahbelle in the Soldiers Memorial Club Class 1 Handicap (1100m) and for “one second at the top of the straight”, Gleeson thought the 10-1 stablemate might knock off Roger That and second- placed Iwilldoit.
“I thought Roger was gone at the top of the straight,” Gleeson said.
“The other one headed him and I could see a third horse coming too.
“I realised it was my other one and it looked like it would beat them all.
“But Roger showed a bit of ticker and fought back.
“He was going as good as anything on the line.”
Clenton echoed that.
“He got a good run and won well,” she said.
“The other horse headed him but he fought back very well.”
She then scored an easy win on Slate On Edge to register her third career double and her second since returning.
Clenton was also marked down to ride Snip Of Magic at Randwick today but trainer Tim McIntosh has scratched because of the wide alley.
“We can’t win from out there down there,” McIntosh said.
“We’ll probably go down next Wednesday. Warwick Farm is a bit more of a frontrunner’s track too.”
It will be Clenton’s first ride at a city track.
Meanwhile, Roger That could be headed to the provincials too.
Gleeson said his gelding had pulled up well from Wellington and he would look around for a suitable race.
“I don’t have anything planned with him,” Gleeson said.
“I’ll look for an 1100 to 1200m race somewhere.
“Maybe even a provincial race on the minimum would be nice.”
He said finding a race under the benchmarking system had been hard with Roger That after he carried a light weight to a good win at Scone last year.
“We had to bite the bullet with him and go to Wellington and use Sam’s claim,” he said.
“That brought him into the race with 56.5kg. Every other time we’d nominated him in Class 1 races around the bush he’d been given ridiculous weights.
“This time he showed a fair bit of ticker and he might be starting to pick up again and strike a bit of form for us.”
Gleeson and his wife, Erin, race Roger That with his brother Jason and his wife Mel Cranfield.
