August 20, 2017
Nanango Race Club’s annual Nanango Cup race meeting is always one the South Burnett’s biggest, and this year’s outing was no exception.
Guests from Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and all over the region packed out the Lee Park racecourse on Saturday, August 12 to enjoy a day of racing, fashions and fun in near-perfect winter weather.
The new racing year begins on August 1, when all race horses celebrate a birthday.
And since the Nanango Cup meeting is always the region’s first of each new racing year, the day kicked off with presentations to the winners of the Race Club’s 2016-17 Premierships.
Last year’s top jockey was Melody O’Brien; its best trainer was Tom Dougall; and Hopetoun Street took line honours for the horse of the year.
The presentations were followed by the traditional Blessing Of The Jockeys ceremony in the mounting yard.
This year, Father Dan Grundy performed the ceremony, wishing all the jockeys a safe year of racing and remembering the many jockeys who have died in Australia pursuing a sport they love.
After this, the day’s races got underway in spectacular style when Going Ballistic dislodged jockey Billy-Rose Derbyshire in the barriers as the pair were lining up for the Deb Frecklintgon MP Maiden Plate.
The excited horse then executed three circles of the track before stewards were finally able to persuade it back into the mounting yard.
Fortunately, Billy-Rose was uninjured and went on to ride the rest of her day’s engagements without any further incidents.
But Going Ballistic was a late scratching, and will need to be trialled before it can race again.
In the following race, Encore Sall threatened a repeat performance when the horse broke through the barriers and cantered a short distance before being brought to heel.
In this case, though, no harm was done and the horse was reloaded for what ultimately proved a fifth place outcome.
Things quietened down at this point and the remaining races passed without any major incidents.
But in the final race of the day, winning horse Lucky Ticket shifted out abruptly after passing the winning post, breaking through the outside running rail and dislodging jockey Jason Hoopert.
Hoopert suffered a shoulder injury and was taken to Kingaroy Hospital for observation, but released later that night.
The win was his 100th after he returned to racing in 2010 following a horrific fall at Kilcoy four years earlier, and a shock end to what had been an otherwise exciting day of turf action.
Hoopert was a sentimental favourite to notch up his century at Saturday’s meeting, and came close to doing so in the fourth race when his mount Quattro Fantastico was beaten to the winning post by IBelieveICanFly by just three quarters of a length.
While punters were pleased to see him finally secure the landmark victory in the last race of the day, the unexpected accident drove home the point that racing is not a risk-free sport, and jockeys deserve all the protection they can get on the track.
Note: southburnett.com.au would like to apologise to our readers for the delay in publishing this report. Our office suffered computer problems last week which delayed publication. We apologise to any of our readers who were inconvenienced by this.
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Results
Race 1 – Deb Frecklington MP Maiden Plate (800m)
1. Tycoon Zip (3) – Hannah English
2. Nice Time (2) – Hannah Phillips
3. Kapachino Miss (6) – Michael Schrapel
Time: 0:46.91
Margins: Nose x 1/2 length
Race 2 – NaTDA Founders’ Day Class 1 Handicap (1000m)
1. Orleans (1) – Hannah Phillips
2. Mac’s Boy (2) – Kenji Yoshida
3. Tabriz (4) – Jason Missen
Time: 0:58.27
Margins: 1 1/2 lengths x Short nose
Race 3 – McDonalds Kingaroy QTIS Maiden Plate (1200m)
1. Haylee Prince (3) – Hannah English
2. Tent Lover (11) – Billie-Rose Derbyshire
3. Oakfield Sunset (8) – Lachlan Dodds
Time: 1:10.07
Margins: 2 1/2 lengths x 1 1/4 lengths
Race 4 – Heritage Nanango BenchMark 60 Handicap (1200m)
1. IBelieveICanFly (2) – Hannah English
2. Quattro Fantastico (9) – Jason Hoopert
3. Custody (7) – Jason Missen
Time: 1:10.18
Margins: 3/4 length x 1 neck
Race 5 – XXXX Fitzroy Hotel Nanango Cup Open Handicap (1600m)
1. King Ludwig (3) – Cecily Eaton
2. I’m No Ruby (4) – Joshua King
3. Singaraja (7) – Leeanne McCoy
Time: 1:34.80
Margins: 1/2 length x 3/4 length
Race 6 – Huston Nissan Class B Handicap (1600m)
1. Lucky Ticket (1) – Jason Hoopert
2. First Regret (2) – Lachlan Dodds
3. Only Leonnie (5) – Bridget Rooney
Time: 1:36.26
Margins: Neck x 1 length
- View videos all all five races on the Nanango Race Club’s YouTube Channel
