

Eight-year-old gelding Komachi is racing in career-best form and on Saturday, and rewarded connections with a maiden win at stakes level at Morphettville.
At start No.46, trainer Will Clarken gave Komachi his first shot at a Listed race and he duly saluted, proving too tough for his rivals in the Premier's Plate (2006m).
It was not an easy watch for Clarken with the son of Kingman looking under siege the whole way down the straight, but he showed plenty of toughness to hold all challengers off.
Clarken, who has had Komachi in his stable since April last year, was confident he had the horse as fit as he could and was pleased to see him cling on for the win.
"He's been a good, fun horse," Clarken said
"He's just had a terrific week, I've upped his work, so he basically goes on the treadmill every day and then goes to the beach for half an hour."
Saturday's victory has the Sellicks Hill-based conditioner pondering a tilt at the Adelaide Cup, but he admits he'll need to pump a bit more work into him to run out the two miles.
"We'll look to push on towards an Adelaide Cup," Clarken said.
"The level of work he's copped to get to the 2000m is pretty high, but he's by Kingman, and he's got a great pedigree and a big engine."
Leading jockey Rochelle Milnes was on board for the ride and was able to navigate from a tricky barrier to get across and lead.
Clarken was all praise for the ride with Milnes, having just her second sit on the galloper.
"It was a really good ride from a sticky spot early," Clarken said.
"She took her time and got him to the right spot, and it paid off."
Jockey Kayla Crowther is the regular rider of Komachi, but was on board Crimson Vine for Saturday's feature and nearly got the job done, finishing a narrow second.
Milnes gave plenty of credit to Crowther for the job she had done on Komachi in the lead-up to the $120,000 contest and said she could feel her looming late.
"All credit to Kayla for the work she's done on him," Milnes said.
"I could feel her coming late, and she wouldn't have wanted me to win, so it was good to hold her off.
"Gosh, he's a hard ride though."
Story from Punters.com (Jeff Hatton)

