PAKENHAM NIGHT RUNNERS ON THURSDAY

Strong Lady, Iron Ruler and Quail Hollow are our Thursday runners when they travel to Pakenham for the night meeting.

Strong Lady (pictured) is the first to go in race one, the 3YO Fillies Maiden Plate over 1200 metres with Jordan Childs riding.

“It’s a nice race to get her started as it’s a Super VOBIS race with the bonuses and the Pakenham track should suit her,” Mike said.

“It’s good she is in the first race as they have given the track out as soft which will suit her. She’s a lovely filly however, I am not expecting to see the best of her until she gets out over a bit further.

“She might get a little bit outpaced when they quicken up but this is a good race to get her started so the main thing is for her to have a good experience.”

Iron Ruler makes his debut in race five, the Maiden Plate over 1400 metres with Jordan Childs to ride.

“He’s had a jump out here at Flemington where they ran him off his feet a little over 800 metres so he’ll be better off today over 1400,” Mike said.

“He’s a Mongolian Khan out of a Cape Blanco mare who we’ve trained as a stayer so like Strong Lady this is a good track to get him started.

“He’s drawn out wide which is probably not a huge disadvantage and I’ve fitted him with a cross-over nose band to help him.

“The Peter Moody-trained favourite looks the horse to beat but I will be happy to see our horse have a good experience and finish the race off as we get him out in trip.”

Quail Hollow runs in race eight with Jamie Mott in the saddle.

“He’s drawn poorly which is disappointing but he should get a chance to get in at this track,” Mike said. “There does not look a huge amount of speed in the race but we’ll leave it up to Jamie to assess and is he does fly the gates there is no reason why he can’t go forward.

“He looks particularly well and is nice and fit so there is no reason why he can’t run well in what does not look the strongest