By Luke Sheehan | Racing.com
Retired jockey Patrick Keane chalked up a first in his training career on Sunday, the home-track trainer breaking through at Cranbourne via Maddie Lynn.
The 26-year-old rode 119 winners in his career in the saddle after starting out in 2008, and his race-riding career coming to a close in mid-2016 after a race fall at Sandown that saw him puncture a lung.
Keane’s small team had been close to a success, with Maddie Lynn going one better than her previous runner-up finish at Cranbourne by toughing out a maiden win over 1600m on Sunday.
“This one I really want to give to the owner Tony Ottobre… and his wife Lynn, and his son Mick,
“They’ve given me a good opportunity with their horses, and I’ve finally got one for them.
“And my wife as well, we’ve got a newborn baby, Jess is up three times in the night and she’s still there at 3am waking me up to go to trackwork.
“So this one’s for them.”
The four-year-old Choisir mare is really growing a strong affinity at home.
“I thought she was with the blinkers on,” Keane added.
“Last time out here at Cranbourne she ran second, beaten in a bob.
“Then we took her to Pakenham – she doesn’t handle the synthetic, but we were getting to a month between runs, trying to get her to a mile so we had to take her.
“And today was her race.
“It makes it good when they’re travelling that well to the turn.
“Every time you put Jye McNeil on, you know you’re going to get the horse ridden well, and you can be very confident.”