Jones and Ottley grab early double at Kaikoura

There's been an early double to the trainer-driver combo of Mark Jones and Sam Ottley at Kaikoura this afternoon.

On a sunny day in front of a good sized crowd at the South Bay race course it was the Coalman who prevailed in race 3 paying $3.30m before the well favoured Artatac took out race 4 as well.

It was the durable four-year-old's 11th win in 74 starts, while it was The Coalman's first win in ten starts, after a clever Ottley drive. The Coalman looked to be in traffic three back the fence before Ottley found some space and then rocketed home to win by a length.

Artatac's victory was more straight forward. After drawing one he got the trail behind All By Myself before taking the passing lane.

Both are trained by Jones at Burnham who has taken his winning total this year to 34.

The day's feature races are the IRT South Bay Cup Handicap Trot, featuring Sundees Son and Bolt For Brilliance, at 3.25pm and the Alabar Kaikoura Cup at 4.40pm. Akuta is a $2 favourite with Allamericanlover next at $5.