Lethal Thoughts hit the front a long way from home and the opposition who had the easy runs back in the pack all had their chance to run him down but your boy is “lethal by name and nature” winning again at Sandown on Sunday.
This was no easy task, while Lethal remained firm in the market around the $5 mark, it was an even race with plenty of the opposition being backed to beat him in the BM 78 Jockey Watch Handicap.
Runner-up Name Dropper was heavily touted and is still marked as a horse to follow from the Richard Laming stable, while there was also plenty of hype surrounding the Godolphin runner in Sandpaper ridden by Jamie Kah.
LOOKED DICEY EARLY
Ciaron and Vic Husslers have been waiting for the barrier Gods to shine on Lethal Thoughts and when he drew barrier 5 the pre-race plan was simple, begin well, go forward, lead at a leisurely pace and set sail for home with 300m to go.
But once the gates flew back, even from barrier 5, Ethan Brown was in danger of getting posted three wide when the inside runners all kicked-up looking to lead.
“Terrific win although it looked a little ugly early but he has good early speed and was able to eventually cross and lead which was nice and control the race.
“He showed a terrific turn of foot when I asked him and I think the horse that finished second is a very progressive horse so the form out of that race should stack up,” Brown said.
“He showed a terrific turn of foot when I asked him” Jockey Ethan Brown
SECTIONALS TELL THE TALE
In the end, they were coming at Lethal Thoughts from all angles but having a look at the replay and the sectional times he was hitting the line as well as any other horse in the race.
Clearly, Lethal had the fastest overall time but also the fastest final 600m clocking 35.68 seconds, which ended up being the 4th fastest of the day at Sandown.
He also covered more ground 1408 metres in total than the two place getters Name Dropper (1405m) and Sandpaper (1405m).
Lethal reached a peak speed of 64.15 km/h and an average speed of 59.15 km/h.
The most important stat and the only one that matters is that Lethal Thought’s number went up in the frame first.
ROCK SOLID PERFORMANCE
Don’t underestimate how hard it is to build a record like Lethal Thoughts boasts and how hard it is to find a horse that can be competitive around that 78 Benchmark area.
That’s now win number 4 from 19 career starts with 3 minor placings for a total of $244,000 in prize money.
And if you cast your mind back he arguably should have won the Group 1 JJ Atkins as a 2-year-old drawing the car park being posted wide the entire journey to eventually finish an enormous fighting fifth.
Then came the two throat operations so he is tough just like a Hussler.
WHATS NEXT
Ciaron and the team have picked out a couple of nice options for Lethal Thoughts but there’s a fair distance between the two choices.
There’s a Benchmark 78 at Caulfield over 1400m which we know is right in his sweet spot, that’s worth $80,000. While on the very same day there’s a $160,000 Benchmark 78 which would see Lethal stretch out over 1500m at Royal Randwick.
“We will accept for both and keep an eye on any other options and keep everyone up to date, “Race manager Simon McCartin said.
Either way we can’t wait.