HAVING already ticked past 100 winners and exceeded the stable's expectations for the season, Glenn Douglas says he will spend the final days of the season just enjoying the ride.
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That certainly was the case at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night, with the Strathfieldsaye trainer notching up a training and driving double.
Douglas struck early on the 11-race card with the maturing Vandanta and added another six races later with Shorty's Mate.
It was the former five-time state's leading trainer's first training-driving double since his dual success with The High Roller and Ozzie Major at Echuca on July 2.
His previous training double came as recently as this week at Shepparton on Wednesday with Easton Foxglove and Kotare Mahdi.
Douglas believed there was much to enthuse about the win of Vandanta ($6.80), a four-year-old gelding with seven wins alongside his name this season (three at Melton) and plenty of upside.
"For his age, he's pretty lightly raced and he is just starting to come into his own," he said.
"I think his next 12 months will be his best - I really like the way he's going.
"Last week we ran into Emma Stewart's strong stable and even though he ran sixth (behind Tam Major) I thought his run was impressive and I thought that showed (Saturday) night."
Douglas felt Shorty's Mate had also showed signs a win was not far off when third the previous week at Melton behind the in-form Graeme Dalton-trained pacer Animated.
"That was no surprise he was able to win, he ran some nice closing sectionals," he said.
"It probably helped that the Emma Stewart horse (Rocknroll Icon) was a bit lethargic on face value.
"I was able to capitalise on that sitting back in the field and in getting past them."
Shorty's Mate, the six-year-old son of Art major and Shorty's Girl, has now won 10 races from 46 starts with 13 placings, including three-straight before Saturday's win.
A clear third on the Victorian trainers' premiership with 106 winners and ranked 14th nationally, Douglas was adamant his season 2018-219 season had been considerably stronger than expected.
"We set our mark at the start of the year around 70 or 80 and now we've gone past 100, we're enjoying the ride and seeing where we can get to," he said.
"There's no real expectation other than to the next season being able to once again emulate that."
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