Every trainer has had a bad run with box draws. But few would have endured the red rug drought Matt Lanigan has experienced at Sandown Park.
When Vivatar pulls on the red vest in race 9 tonight, it will bring to an end a run of 65 consecutive races at Sandown Park without drawing the inside alley.
“I’ve never been so happy to read the text message,” the 27 year old said when the notification of the draw came through.
“Can you organise a tour guide to lead me to the box, I’m scared I might get lost!”
And he’s only half-joking. The last time one of Lanigan’s runners jumped from box 1 at a full stakes meeting at HQ was on 9 August 2019 when Blue Mascara led all of the way in 29.74, and his only winner at a Sandown Park metro meeting when wearing the red vest. But with Lanigan attending to other commitments, Craig Solkhorn fulfilled the handling duties that night.
Amazingly, the last time Lanigan loaded one of his own greyhounds into box 1 at a metro meeting at Sandown Park was on TAB Melbourne Cup heats night in November 2017. He had two box 1 runners that night – Moment To Jive ran second and Moment To Rumba was unplaced. That’s 890 days and 99 starters between pulling on the number 1 handlers vest for a runner of his own!
Maybe it’s a Thursday night thing and not a Sandown Park issue? Afterall – Sandown Park holds around four meetings a year on Friday nights, and Blue Mascara, Moment To Jive, Moment to Rumba and now Vivatar have all worn the red vest on a Friday night
So what are the chances of going 65 races without drawing box 1? Assuming eight runners in each race, it’s approximately 5880/1. But having finally drawn the red, will the inside draw help Vivatar break Lanigan’s astounding run of outs from the most coveted box in the sport?
“Yeah I think he’s in with a chance with a clean beginning,” he said.
“He loves the rails and dropping back in grade is another huge advantage. It’s still a cracking field for a grade 5 event so he can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
Let’s hope so – those red boxes can be hard to get.
Vivatar is rated a $4.80 chance with tab.com.au.
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Know someone who’s had a leaner box 1 run? Let me know at on Twitter at @mickfloyd.
Paw note: Lanigan’s red box woes seem to be confined to Sandown Park’s metro meetings. While Vivatar will be just Lanigan’s sixth box 1 in 114 career starters (5.2%) at Sandown Park, it will be his 114th red box from 928 Victorian starters (12.4%) in his training career – just shy of the 1 in 8 red boxes you’d expect him to draw.
