Campbell’s epic triple treat

TASMANIAN Hall of Fame trainer Barry Campbell had a night out in Launceston last Friday, claiming a hat-trick of wins on the nine-race card.

Campbell had runners in three races and won them all.

His star sprinter Deroche returned to winning form, taking out the 1100m open handicap, while Le Cadeau notched his first win in over a year. Assaranca made it backto-back wins with a narrow victory in a benchmark 68 over 1620m.

Deroche was coming off a shock last placing at Sandown late last month.

“The mare went terrible in Melbourne but there was some reason behind it and I’m not sure what it was,” Campbell said.

“I did a bit of work on her hocks when she came home but her work this past week had been good, so I thought she was in good enough order to win.

“She’s done a good job (on Friday) because she’s carried 59kg and the runner-up (Geegee Trendsetter) that’s won 10 races carried only 52.5kg.”

Deroche ($1.70 fav) did what she does best at Launceston, leading throughout and finding enough when challenged by Geegee Trendsetter over the final stages.

Campbell said Deroche would most likely be aimed at the rich mares’ races (Bow Mistress and Vamos Stakes) later in the season. Le Cadeau was sensationally backed to start the $1.90 favourite after as much as $2.90 was offered.

But those who took the short odds would have had heart flutters when he was one of three that hit the line almost in synch. Campbell’s gelding gained the nod over Sidorova and Hannah’s Song, with less than a half-head separating the trio.

“Le Cadeau was a terrific run at his previous start, and I thought he could win and thankfully he got the bob in,”

Campbell said. “It was a nice win carrying plenty of weight and that was his third run back from a spell so he should improve from the run.

“He hasn’t won for a long time, but Leanne (Gaffney) did the right thing and gave him a long spell and he came to me in real good order.”

Le Cadeau won three races as a two-year-old in the care of Gaffney, including the Tasmanian Magic Millions Classic, but after four starts last season he was sent for a spell.

Assaranca ($2.30 into $1.70 fav) delivered a game effort to lead throughout and win, albeit by just a nose from So Astounding in a five-horse field.

The four-year-old mare has always given the impression she will stay, and Campbell says the mare will soon be tested over 2100m.

“Assaranca goes a lot better on grass than she does on the synthetic at Devonport because here (Mowbray) she shows a good turn of foot while she is more of a grinder at Devonport,” he said.

“I haven’t got anything particular mapped out for the mare, but she’ll tell us where we should head once we get her over more ground.”

Assaranca was ridden by apprentice Codi Jordan, who said the mare was looking for more ground.

“She’s a different horse this preparation and considering it took me about 1100 metres to pull her up, I’d be chucking her over 2100m as soon as possible,” Jordan said.