Final meet dishes up a handy Nolan type

Clifford Park’s final meeting of 2019 dished up a potential star in the making, a handy type remaining unbeaten for his new trainer and one with a bit of talent breaking his maiden.

Michael Nolan unearthed a promising type on debut with Commander In Sara destroying rivals in the AG Rigging Maiden Plate (1050m).

After needing to be urged along early by Josh Oliver to keep the lead, the gelding by Mahisara snuck away from the pack upon turning into the straight.

Commander In Sara then exploded away over the concluding stages to score by six and three-quarter lengths to Scaramouche ($6), with Barta Lines ($51) a further length back in third.

In a dazzling display of speed, the three-year-old ran home in the fastest final 600m of the night (35.52).

Nolan said while it has taken a while for the gelding to get to the track, he was impressed with how he handled the occasion.

“He’s been in and out of work twice having battled with shin soreness,” Nolan said.

“This is why we’ve had to wait until three to make his debut.

“This time around he’s a stronger horse. He ran well at both his jumpouts and we’d thought he’d go well on debut.

“When we drew a good alley we always wanted to get him to the front because he’s a very fast horse.

“I thought he was under a bit of pressure on turning, but once he balanced up his final 200m was very strong and he couldn’t have been more impressive.”

Nolan said he will now target Warwick before assessing the future of the horse.

“There’s a race at Warwick in two weeks time, a Class 1 over 1100m,” he said.

“I’m very happy with him. We’re not thinking about Brisbane or anything like that until he races in better grade.”

Trainer Charlotte White and Les ‘Bubba’ Tilley made it four wins from their last five starts as a combination, with Our Top Shelf ($1.55 fav) saluting in the Black and White Cabs Class 4 Handicap (1210m).

In his second start for White since being relocated from Rockhampton, Our Top Shelf backed up his last-start success at Dalby.

Settling midfield throughout the run, Tilley was able to steer a passage off the fence as tired horses began to weaken, eventually chasing down leader Jinx ‘N’ Drinx ($12) to score by a length and a quarter.

In the final race of the calendar year at Clifford Park, local trainer Steve Tregea backed up his earlier metropolitan success at Eagle Farm with Niccanova.

Pointstohappiness ($3 fav) got to the front for Tilley and was never headed in claiming the Audi Centre Toowoomba QTIS Three-Years-Old Maiden Handicap (1210m), scoring by three-quarters of a length to Don’t Stop ($3.20).

“He ended up in the right race with the right breaks,” Tregea said.

“He has a reasonable amount of ability and is problem free. He’s had a few excuses along the way but everything went right for him.

“He’s a quick beginner and flies out of the machine. He’ll want a bit longer as time goes on.

“We’ll put him out for a break now. It’s taken a while to break the maiden so we’ll see if he can improve when he comes back.”

From The Stand appears at thechronicle.com.au/sport.