KYNETON trainer Mick Sell looks to have a handy one on his hands after Lovin' Laughs made it two wins from two starts at Moe last Thursday.
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The four-year-old gelding followed up his impressive debut win at Echuca earlier in the month by producing another barnstorming finish to claim victory in a strong benchmark 64 over 1014m.
Lovin' Laughs, who was slow to begin, again showed an amazing turn of foot, coming from fifth at the 200m to run down the smart John Moloney-trained gelding Black Opal, with the well-fancied Princess Flagrant back in third.
Stable spokesperson Mel Sell said another convincing win had confirmed the stable's 'good opinion' of the gelding.
She was quick to praise the patience of his owners, the Miles family, who are well known in harness racing circles, and had bided their time as the Sells worked through some injury issues with Lovin' Laughs.
"He's a lovely, lovely horse, but he's taken a bit of time. He had quite a few bouts of soreness and just took a bit of time to mature," Sell said.
"But we're lucky, the Miles family who own him, are so easy to train for. Because they train themselves, they know and just let you do your job.
"They've let us be and every time he went a bit shine sore, we'd tip him out again and they'd be patient and understanding.
"We were always confident in the horse. He's always shown ability, and when we took him to his first trial he jumped out and won really well, albeit he was green as grass.
"His second trial we'd thought we'd try and get him some experience getting around horses, but he was just too good for them and ended up winning by five lengths, so we were confident before (his first start at) Echuca and thought he'd be hard to beat."
Ridden again by Jack Hill at Moe, Sell said the stable had few options but to run Lovin' Laughs in a benchmark 68 after the gelding was allocated a 63 rating following his debut win.
"When we saw that rating, we were a bit shocked. We thought it might have been a bit harsh coming off a maiden at Echuca on Melbourne Cup day," she said.
"It restricted the types of races we could go through. The original plan was to take him to Dunkeld, but he knocked his leg in his box about two days before, so we pulled the pin on that.
"That left two 1000m options - Moe or Moonee Valley - and Mick thought it probably wasn't a great idea to take him to The Valley for his second start, especially when he's so green.
"So we kept him out in the bush, which made it easier to be honest. It just felt right.
"It was a tricky little field - Black Opal is a good horse and Mick Price's horse, Raysim, has a nice future - but we were confident after the horse had improved so much in between runs.
"He's really taking things in his stride at the moment."
With his rating again jumping to 67, a trip to the city might not be too far away for Lovin' Laughs.
Sell is confident there is plenty of scope for improvement in the 'baby-like' gelding.
"There's a couple of options at Flemington or Caulfield, and there's also a nice race at Pakenham," she said.
"We're not scared of going to the city, but most times it's nice just taking these developing horses through their grades and keeping it simple."
Dual wins to Lovin' Laughs have contributed to a solid month for the Sell stable, which also experienced success with the seven-year-old sprinter Carlingford on Kyneton Cup day.
The son of Magnus followed up with a third over 1000m at Moonee Valley on last night (Friday night), providing a thrill for the stable's apprentice Jessie Philpot in her first-ever ride at The Valley.
The stable's next runner will be Magnum Bullet, who will be aiming to break his maiden at start number five in a 1469m event at Kyneton, on Tuesday.
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