Town planning for Laurie's Love

After winning his barrier trial in March, Laurie’s Love has placed in five of his eight runs and Petrovic believes it’s only a matter of time before the son of Shaft takes his strong form to Sydney.

“I’ve always had that in mind for him,” Petrovic said. “I did take him up to town earlier this preparation but he did a lot of things wrong, he was still too green, too immature.

“Now he’s shaping into a really good racehorse…he’s definitely got at least a couple of wins in town written all over him if not more and they don’t come along like that too often.”

Laurie’s Love went into Tuesday’s Class 2 Plate (1460m) as the short priced $2.30 favourite and didn’t disappoint after coming home over the top of early frontrunner Infinite Kingdom.

Petrovic lay much of the credit for the win at the feet of veteran jockey Kevin Sweeney who piloted his still far-from-polished mount in a typically assured fashion.

“In his last start he got beaten by a good horse but he also made a few errors and Kevin rectified those today,” he said. “I thought Kevin was the key to it all and he rode him without any panic and it made the difference.”

On a day where Queanbeyan trainers struggled to feature, the race was a rare highlight for the locals with Myffy Rae’s Mr Shuffles and Frank Cleary’s Eazy Jim filling out the minor places.

Petrovic meanwhile said Laurie’s Love would likely have one more run before returning to the paddock for a spell. But he said he remained uncertain as to where the three-year-old would next jump.

“There is a race we’ve got in mind for him but I’ll talk with the owners and see what they want to do,” he said. “It’s always more fun to sit down over a bottle of wine and have a bit of a bit of a chat about it all.”

Queanbeyan’s next race meeting will be held on Sunday, December 2.