August 8, 2014
A Japanese rider who has seen more of western Queensland than most colonials, a licensee who has derived an income in New Zealand, Victoria and off the coast of Scotland and a busy breeder with a property called “Summerholme” near Ipswich were some of the human elements that combined to collect last Saturday’s XXXX Gold-Carrollee Hotel Nanango Cup for 2014.
The conveyance was a consistent, plucky and fit grand-daughter of Mister C named Hillary’s Clang.
The five-year-old was bred by her part-owner Bill Kajewski with Brad Facoory, son of the miler’s Toowoomba trainer Paul Facoory.
Woodford’s Dick Carseldine and Adelaide computer consultant Gary Stadler also have an interest in the Clang mare, whose career record now stands at 22:7-4-3 with a metric mile form line of 9:3-4-2
Neatly handling the reins was Naoki Ogura, a graduate of the Gold Coast Traintech 2000 program.
Matt Kropp’s affable mature-age apprentice was elated after his superb pace-making display on a fluent and relaxed galloper that was never seriously threatened.
Ogura has been tagged as Cotton Fingers, the nickname attributed to the legendary George Moore who was aboard Baguette when he swept up the 1970 Sydney Triple Crown for juveniles.
Albeit on less greener pastures, Naoki has also harvested a unique “triple crown”: in 2012 he booted Regal Prince home in the Morven, Cunnamulla and Charleville Cups.
In Ogura’s logbook for last season there were winners at Cunnamulla, Morven, Thangool, Warwick and Bell.
Dalby, Jandowae, Miles, Bundaberg, Warra, Gayndah and St George are among the dozen tracks where he partnered placing-getters.
Paul Facoory kicked off as a flat and jumps jockey based in the Hamilton-Cambridge thoroughbred heartland area of the “Shaky Isles”.
Before moving to the Downs, he had training stints at Geelong, Caloundra and the Gold Coast. And somewhere along the way he took a break, working on oil rigs near Inverness.
The in-form Glenthorn Avenue, prepared and raced by Wondai’s Lindsay Anderson, really put in.
The Bel Esprit gelding stalked the leader throughout the Nanango Cup race and battled valiantly in the chase down the straight to miss by a mere length.
The Kilcoy Cup winner Gentle Giant also finished very strongly to wind up a neck away in the minor berth.
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‘Longshot’ Shortens The Odds
Sunshine Coast jockey Pietro Romeo, who piloted the very lightly raced seven-year-old Living Image to victory in the Deb Frecklington MP-Blessing Of The Jockeys Handicap (Class 1, 1000m), hails from the northern hemisphere.
“I was an accountant in the UK, got bored with the job and gave it away.” Pietro told me.
“I had no background in racing, but a friend of the family was into it and he suggested I give it a go because I was light.
“I was known as Longshot Romeo because my first three winners started at 66/1, 50/1 and around 44/1,”
But it seems he’s a long shot no more after he posted his third winner in his three-week-old Queensland stint with his Race 2 win on Living Image.
The former Taree hoop landed the first leg of a winning double for Jandowae trainer Geoffrey Schrader.
The second leg came in Race 4, when Desert Lair, his charge in the Huston Nissan BM 65 Handicap (1200m) under the guidance of jockey Rhiannon Payne, rocketed home late to prevail over Luck’s In (Matthew McGillivray) and Octavanus (Billie-Rose Derbyshire) in a blanket finish that showed that back markers can also score at Nanango.
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Glenn Almost Has A Dream Outcome
Lee Park conditioner Glenn Richardson nudged a dream outcome when his runners Canid, Ede Fuse and Miss You Johnny filled three of the first four spots at the end of the McDonalds Kingaroy QTIS Maiden (1200m) at last Saturday’s Nanango race meeting.
The sequence was spoilt by the grey mare Pearls Destiny, the runner-up that had a head and a short neck advantage over the third and fourth placegetters in Race 3.
The Exclusive City gelding, a mere $400 buy at a Magic Million Gold Coast sale, improved on his recent third placings at Bundaberg and Warra.
The four-year-old, with almost $8,000 in the bank, is raced by ex-Nanango High schoolmates Richardson, Marc Alexander, Gary McAuliffe and his track work rider Hannah English.
And Canid – having his third outing after a lengthy spell – travelled well for Tiffani Brooker, the apprentice that combined successfully with Richardson five times in 2013-14.
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Bits & Pieces
- Norma King is testing the waters at Ipswich on Friday with Flight Command, More Than Superb and Fiscal Cliff.
- Kaylene Hamilton saddles up at Ipswich and Toowoomba on Saturday, the date when Jason Hoopert is back in action at Beaudesert.
- Andrew Green and Lionel Richardson head to Gatton on Sunday.
- Gentle Giant is down to have a crack over 1800 metres at Caloundra on Monday, where he will take on Peter Blackwell’s Count Romano.
- Best wishes go to Hannah Phillips for a speedy recovery with her knee injury. It is anticipated that she will be out of the pigskin for another month.
