BENDIGO trainer Patrick Starr and his veteran galloper Diamond Oasis have combined to break a pair of droughts at Sandown on Wednesday.
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The nine-year-old gelding's 1000m win at Ladbrokes Park on was his first victory in more than 1300 days.
It was also the first midweek metropolitan success for Starr.
The son of former 11-time Group 1 winner Lohnro and British dam Siwa had not won since his 900m triumph at Gold Coast on Boxing Day 2015.
All six of his previous wins were for his former trainers Joe Pride and John O'Shea.
In 2016, Diamond Oasis had three unplaced runs for former trainer Darren Weir, before making his way to Starr's Bendigo stable in 2017.
The young trainer could barely contain his excitement after the well-supported gelding outsprinted his rivals to claim career win number seven in the $50,000 benchmark 70 event.
"It's good to see old marvel has still got plenty of life left in those legs," he told broadcaster Racing.com
"It's just excellent for us - we're a small team.
"When we first got him he was so backwards, he's come such a long way.
"He just kept lifting. My partner Jess does all the riding and education and she has done an excellent job to get the horse back."
Diamond Oasis ($7.60) was brilliantly ridden by Jamie Kah, who was in England last weekend to compete against some of the world's best riders in the Shergar Cup on Sunday.
The Group 1-winning rider hugged the rail coming around the turn and was able to kick clear in the straight, before withstanding a late challenge from Al Dorama and Ben Melham.
"We jumped well and were there (on the rail) anyway ... it might be marginally better outside, but I saved the ground on the inside," Kah said.
"The horse had no luck last start, I felt so sorry for him, he just wanted to let down in the last 200m.
"He had an uninterrupted run today and was just too good."
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