Pike celebrates birthday with four-timer at Mornington

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William Pike

Champion Perth jockey 's hit-and-run visit to Melbourne has paid off handsomely with four winners at Mornington on Saturday including a feature race double.

Pike's weekend commenced at The Valley on Friday night where his solitary ride, , landed the feature race, the William Pike Stakes.

The jockey celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a book of six rides, starting with an unplaced effort aboard in the Asset Painting Services Handicap (2000m).

He then went on a winning streak on , Dom To Shoot, Mount Popa, in the Listed , and finally Laverrod in the Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m).

Pike's final ride for the afternoon, Imperial Lad in the Catanach's Jewellers Handicap (1600m), finished second to Flandersrain.

Appreciating a fast pace set by Ancestry and , Laverrod (+600) stormed home in the Hareeba Stakes to record a three-quarter length win from (+1200) with (+750) one and a quarter lengths away third.

“His form has always been good but I suppose at different times he can be a bit patchy,” Pike said.

“I just said to Jake (Casey) that he's a lovely big strong horse but he's not as strong mentally as his body is.

“Today I thought I'd ride him a bit softer. I think the speed up front was good and he got to run onto them and he enjoyed it.”

Laverrod brought up a winning double for visiting Perth trainers Sean And after their earlier success with Dom To Shoot in the Mornington Guineas.

“He mainly came over with Dom To Shoot to have a few races here as there's not a lot there (in WA) for him with his rating being so high,” Jake Casey said.

“So, it's good that they both got the job done today.”

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