TALENTED pacer Klebnikova Leis has finally delivered on what she promised early this season.
The two-year-old broke her maiden status in the $10,000 Premier’s Blue Bonnet feature in Hobart last week and in Launceston tonight (Sunday) she franked that effort by scoring a runaway win in the Cliff Robbins Memorial over 2200 metres at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston.
With ace young reinsman Nathan Ford in the sulky, Klebnikova Leis eased off the fence when third to go u-p and face the breeze outside of the leader Azarenka Leis at the half-way mark but she defied the task by bursting clear of her rivals in the home straight and went on to score by over six metres from Kristins Niadh with Put Mback.
The filly’s trainer Bill Dornauf said after she won in Hobart that she was one of the most promising pacers he has ever trained.
“I’ve never had a horse work any better that she does at home so the expectations were high when she first started racing,”‘ Dornauf said.
“I am amazed that it took so long for her to finally break through.”
“But sometimes a horse just needs to win a race for the penny to drop so maybe that’s all she needed,” he said.
Klebnikova Leis was backed like a certainty on debut in Launceston only to lead and capitulate when the pressure was applied and she tailed out to finish near the rear of the field.
She had more failures and while placed a few times she loomed to win in a couple of winnable races but couldn’t finish it off.
At her past two outings she has faced the breeze but treated her rivals with contempt, so the application of drop-down block blinkers coupled with renewed confidence has been the recipe for success.