Kuro Kismet Stars In Launching Pad Epic

KURO Kismet has staved off a fast finishing Aston Rupee to win Thursday night's Group 3 Launching Pad Final (515m) at Sandown Park.

They say box one in big races is worth its weight in gold and that was very much the case in the showpiece finale, Kuro Kismet burrowing through to hold up from the inside draw in the all important charge to the first turn.

From there the Matt Clark-trained speedster always looked to have the $150,000 first prize safely in his keeping before having to raise another effort late to hold off a gallant Aston Rupee which did trainer Glenn Rounds and owned Ray Borda proud.

In something of a bitter-sweet result for Borda, Kuro Kismet is a son of his champion sprinter turned hugely successful stud dog Aston Dee Bee, which continues to kick big goals in his brief time at stud.

For trainer Matt Clark, Thursday night's epic Launching Pad victory caps off a demanding few months which has seen his Briagolong kennels take on a different look.

The start to 2021 saw Clark wave goodbye to former kennel stars Catch The Thief and Playlist, the latter winning at group 1 level.

But as they say when one door closes another one opens and that's certainly been the case with the rise to prominence of Kuro Kismet which won his Launching Pad heat a fortnight ago in a slashing 29.18.

"To have a plan and have it come off, it's just surreal," said Clark.

"You don't expect to win these races. These races, I've been in them for the last 12 months, and they're always hard to win so you always show respect to your opposition.

But not very often it comes off this way and it has tonight. So, yeah, I'm very humbled, I'm thrilled.

"Coming down in the car – there was the three of us driving down, Melissa (Mayle, owner), Bianca (his wife) and myself – I said, ‘if he's in front a length and a half at the winning post the first time like my dad thinks he'll be, it's going to be a long way around .

“And it was. Let me tell you, when he led through the catching pen, I just thought, wow, this is surreal. And I was quite confident that they wouldn't run him down, but you never won it till you won it. And he did it."

Owned by a proud as punch Mel Maye, Kuro Kismet's heroic Launching Pad victory was the eighth of his 21 start career.

The winning time on Thursday night was 29.41, a result of the rough and tumble nature of the race.

Kuro Kismet defeated Aston Rupee by half-a-length, a margin that would have looked a lot closer to winning connections in the drive to the line.

Finishing third another three lengths away was Destruction for Rob Camilleri, the son of Fernando Bale running an almighty race after receiving his share of buffeting in the early stages.

Meanwhile, earlier in the program two consolation events were staged won by Blue Tiger for Gavin Burke and Utah Express for Tim Britton.

Blue Tiger held off a strong finishing Aston Fastnet to score by a half-length in 29.34 while Utah Express made full use of box one to win in 29.22.

Both sets of winning connections took home a cool $15,000.

The Group 3 Easter Gift (515m) was also run and won with the race going to Barooga Smoke for trainer Brett Nye in a sparkling 29.16.