His unlucky run of results continued with Razano in Taree on Tuesday when the three-year-old chestnut filly was beaten by the barest of margins.

In the Manning Valley Race club's TAB meeting, fellow Port trainer Neil Godbolt's four-year-old gelding Flying Mojo was ridden in a heady race by Jeff Kehoe and rewarded for its consistency with a narrow win.

While it was his "mate up the road" that pipped him at the post, Sprague said on another day it could have been different.

"She was just unlucky; it was a the bob of the head ... she ran a terrific race," he said.

"She's been poking around all the time, but she'll be a nice little stayer when she gets older."

In Razano's last four starts, Sprague has picked up three second-places and a third.

"It was her first race over 2000 metres and she went very good to just get beaten," he said.

Sprague said the Manning River track held up well despite the heavy rain that fell over the weekend.

"The track wasn't too bad after the weather we've had, so it was more or less good for them to have the meeting the way it was," Sprague said.

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