Franco Nelson wins Group 1 Bohemia Crystal FFA

The Spreydon Lodge bred Franco Nelson was a superb winner of the $100,000 Group 1 Bohemia Crystal Free-For-All on Miracle Mile night at Tabcorp Park Menangle.

Installed a short priced favourite for the 2400m feature, the Shane and Lauren Tritton trained pacer was expected to lead throughout after drawing the ace.

However things didn't quite pan out as expected with the eight-year-old unable to hold the lead off the mobile when crossed by Mach Doro. Undeterred, co-trainer Lauren Tritton simply opted to come off the rail when Inter Dominion heat winner San Carlo swept to the lead, leaving the race favourite sitting parked briefly before receiving a one-one sit behind the Chariots Of Fire place-getter Atomic Red. Still showing the trademark sprint of his younger days Franco Nelson stormed home three-wide to nab San Carlo in the closing stages and score by a margin of half a neck.

Franco Nelson's 1:53.2 mile rate for the 2400m was just 0.5 of a second outside of Smolda's 2016 track record for the trip.

A Sires Stakes Final winner as a three-year-old for Spreydon Lodge, Franco Nelson has now won 21 races and $827,793 in stakes, making him the second richest pacer ever bred by the company or its founder Wayne Francis - behind only former Miracle Mile winner Franco Tiger.

By Christian Cullen, Franco Nelson is out of the race winning Falcon Seelster mare Notafella Franco, who is the dam of four other race winners to date including the talented 11-win pacer Franco Noriega (1:52.6 $88,806).