Ballarat trainer Mark Lewis claimed some rare city success when The Card Players prevailed at Sandown on Monday.
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The progressive gelding made it three wins from his past six outings when he scored victory in a benchmark 70 event over 1400m.
Jockey Ben Thompson sat the four-year-old back in the field and produced him with a sweeping run down the centre of the track to claim a half-length victory on the line.
He beat runner-up Stormsabrewing, with Downhearted third.
Thompson was full of praise for the Lewis stable after the win.
“He’s been really well prepared by Mark Lewis and his team,” Thompson said.
“He loved having a bit of room. It wasn’t text book being a touch wide around the turn, but I had him in a nice rhythm and I was confident in the horse I was on and he got the job done.”
The Card Players’ win follows victory at Pakenham in early March and Geelong on Boxing Day last year.
The horse broke his maiden with a success at Edenhope in March 2016.
Lewis has had a tough run of late, with a serious foot injury sidelining him from hand-on training.
He told The Courier in January that it wouldn’t be until around the start of the new racing season in July that he will be able to once again fulfill all the roles required to run his stable.