Lees Splits Stablemates at Wyong

Trainer Kris Lees has split his stablemates into different races for today's meeting at Wyong after the pair were split by only a nose in the same race last start, reports racingnsw.com.au. Apprentice Dylan Gibbons will ride both No Laughing Matter (Exosphere-Laughing, by Distorted Humor) and Siesta Key (So You Think-Sarasota, by Danehill) who ran first and second in the Taree RC Harrington Cup over 1300m on 4January with Gibbons aboard Siesta Key that day. Gibbons rode No Laughing Matter in her winning start prior to her last win, and said, "Her three wins have all been on rain-affected tracks so there is some reason to believe she might be a wet tracker but in saying that she has also raced well on good tracks. She's a very exciting filly, everything she is doing is through raw ability. Once she hits the front she thinks the job is done and that almost cost her the other day when she was up in grade. She hit the front too soon then she floated and waited for Siesta Key." With regards to Siesta Key, Gibbons said, "She drew wide (at Taree) and I had to make the best of a bad situation, I was able to get three wide with cover for a little bit but then that horse punched on so I was three wide outside the leader punching the breeze the whole way. It was a huge effort, she wasn't entitled to take me as far as she did let alone fight back and nearly beat the other horse. She's full of heart and guts and she tries."