Olivier Doleuze had good news for trainer Paul O'Sullivan after winning his late pick-up ride on favourite Dansolde in the fifth event - there's a lot more to come. Dansolde took his second win from 10 starts, beating the Sean Woods-trained Pacific Alliance (Seb Sanders) by a comfortable three-quarters of a length in the Class Four at 1,600 metres, but once again showed some of the immaturity that has cost him dearly in his career to date. Dansolde was to have been ridden by Chris Munce, but the Australian was forced to stand down after crashing heavily from Native Language in race two on the all-weather track. Doleuze made no mistakes with the gifted opportunity, having the New Zealand-bred gelding travelling strongly in a forward position and then easing into the clear as heads were turned for home. 'This was a good win and it won't be the last, because he's still quite a baby and inclined to do things wrong - he will get better,' Doleuze said. 'Today, this was good luck for me and bad luck for Chris, as I have no doubt he would have won on him just as well.' Doleuze learned first-hand what Munce has experienced a number of times before - that Dansolde can grab the bit between his molars and take a very firm hold. 'I am glad that today's race was only a mile and they were going at a reasonable speed, because he did take a strong hold,' Doleuze said. 'When they travel so keenly like that, and still finish their race off so well, you know they have more to give.' Dansolde gave O'Sullivan the second leg of a double, following on from 100-1 opening race winner Mars, and the 10-times champion New Zealand mentor was mildly amused at the range of distances at which the gelding has been competing. 'If the people back home looked at the form and saw me racing a horse at 1,600 metres, then 2,200, then back to 2,000 and now 1,600 metres, they'd think I'd lost it,' he chuckled. 'But you don't have a lot of choice here and you see a lot of horses mixing their distances. But as he gets more experience, he's settling better and getting stronger at the end of his races as well.' Pacific Alliance ran his best race since scoring at Happy Valley in September and went within three-quarters of a length of completing a double for the Woods stable. Earlier First Knight, well backed at ($66) stormed to a comfortable 11/2 lengths win in the Class Four over 1,400m when ridden by apprentice Alex Lai Hoi-wing. First Knight had also been a regular Munce ride, but when the popular lightweight chose to ride Jade Dragonfly for O'Sullivan, Woods opted to take the seven pound claim with Lai. In addition to the win, Lai also rode two second placings on Just In Time for Francis Lui Kin-wai in the Class Five, and Art Trader for John Moore in the afternoon's feature event, the HSBC Premier Cup.
