FOR Tim Mannix, there was only one small downside to his first-ever training double.
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He was not at Lord's Raceway to see it happen.
Mannix was a few kilometres away, working at Bush's Produce Store in Bendigo, when first Valkyrie and later All Whitey Then notched up wins on Thursday's eight-race card.
Instead of being trackside himself, the horses were left in the more than capable of hands of Tim's father John Mannix and those of in-form reinswoman Tayla French.
Mannix had no need to worry.
"Dad was in charge and to be honest if it wasn't for John we wouldn't have horses at all," he said.
"He probably does as much, or if not more, than I do with the horses, especially feed-wise.
"All I do is work them and he looks after the feed and carts them all over the countryside when I can't go.
"If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have the horses at all."
To suggest Valkyrie and All Whitey Then had been knocking on the door would be an understatement.
The Mannix-trained pair had run second a combined five times from their last five starts.
A win for Valkryie was the two-year-old Art Major filly's first in seven starts and followed a run of three seconds at Bendigo during April.
"We bred her ourselves. My brother Justin brought a broodmare a couple of years ago and she's the first foal," Mannix said.
"She'd been pretty luckless before (Thursday) running three-straight seconds and had generally been caught by swoopers late.
"She managed to work her way to the top this time and held them off ... only just, but that's all you have to do."
The eight-horse field included no fewer than six youngsters from the Glenn Douglas stable, providing a unique set of circumstances for Mannix
"We are actually working out of Glenn's stables at the minute, so it's still a victory for the stable," he said.
The double was complete when All Whitey Then finished over the top of the Darryl Peace-trained Paying Your Way to win the NR 56 to 65 pace.
Paying Your Way, driven by Shannon O'Sullivan, was attempting a third-straight win at Lord's Raceway, while the Mannix-trained grey gelding was able to score his first win since completing three-straight with his victory at Tabcorp Park Melton last July.
"He probably got up in class a bit quick after his three wins," Mannix said.
"I wouldn't say he has struggled since then, he's just found the class a little bit harder, and barrier draws have been against him.
"His work has been terrific and he's been racing well without luck. In his last three starts he had been held up in all of them, so he's deserved a win as well.
"I would say he's more than paying his way and doing a great job for us."
Mannix was glowing in his praise of young reinswoman French, who has stamped herself as the form driver over the past two Bendigo meetings, with four wins and three seconds from 10 drives.
"She is in really good form and has done a great job for us," he said.
"She's had six drives for us, the first four of them she ran second on all of them, and now she's got two wins in a day.
"We can't complain about that."
A top week for French included wins on Tuesday aboard Joeys Hangover and Betternbetter.
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