May 22, 2015
Nanango Tourism and Development Association office-bearers Mary Green and Gloria Kirkness tracked south last Saturday to the Esk Jockey Club’s meeting to judge the Fashions on the Field.
Their choice of Melody O’Brien in the female section produced no protests to the stewards.
After finishing fourth on Lulin in the Somerset Regional Council QTIS Maiden, the Darling Downs rider hastily turned the female jockeys’ room into a make-up studio.
To complete her stunning outfit, she replaced her skullcap with classy red headgear purchased from Christine Baker, the Toowoomba milliner.
O’Brien’s $200 award made her buying spree worthwhile.
The Nanango-Esk link-up was organised by Chris Aitken, a committee member of the EJC who works with Mary Green on the Brisbane Valley Heritage Trails (BVHT).
Membership of BVHT is drawn from the South Burnett, Toowoomba and Somerset regions and is supported by their respective councils.
The racing maxim “horses for courses” applied to style-form followers as Melody was also an Esk prize winner in April last year.
Given the scheduling of her four rides at Jandowae this weekend, she is unlikely to get to apply her quick-change artistry.
That’s a pity for omen punters seeking a side bet because one of her bookings is for the Jet Spur mare, Women Be Shopping!
Tom Moloney (with Yamanners, Famechon Baroness and the veteran Chief Chargingbear) and Kaylene Hamilton (Gold Record) are the Burnett trainers participating at Jandowae.
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Missen’s Mission At Thangool
Jason Missen would probably like nothing better than to win by five lengths on the Mat Reardon-trained Tropical Heatwave at Jandowae after the team were involved in a controversial finish decision when placed second at Burrandowan a fortnight ago.
The Wondai hoop did bounce back with his two engagements at Kilcoy last Sunday, scoring on Credit Only (9/2) Sunday and finishing a luckless second, beaten half a length, on the James Curtain-trained Lady Wivenhoe.
According to stewards, the 40/1 shot blundered on jumping, hung in and was checked from heels approaching the winning post on the first lap and then laid out on the home turn.
The same side will be looking for a better transit in the BM 55 (1600m) at Thangool.
Curtain will also step out Amber Ale over 800 metres at the northern venue, while Norma King will saddle up Zionic and Flight Command.
Tony Williams will hoist Danielle Daniel on to Lillian Eliza and apprentice Hannah Phillips has a full book.
Rhiannon Payne rides at Mackay on Saturday, and on Sunday she will don silk at Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club’s dual code marathon that has harness races at 10:20am, 10:45am and 11:15am and gallops from 11:55am to 3:36pm.
The timetabling for the fixture, which aids the Queensland Cancer Council, was structured to accommodate the Sky2 coverage.
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Nanango To Sail In Clearer Air
Lee Park officials are naturally keen to draw good fields for the St Mary’s Catholic College Combined Anniversaries Day next Saturday, May 30.
The recent spate of South-East Queensland country programs certainly stretched horse-flesh ranks, so it is encouraging that Nanango’s only non-TAB competitors on Saturday week are Goondiwindi, Tambo, Emerald and Winton.
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The Non-City Slickers’ State Of Origin
When the nation’s most hallowed racing space, the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, made room for a number of new occupants on Thursday, country areas again played a foundation role.
Trainer Brian Mayfield-Smith, who cut his teeth in the Cairns district, was honoured.
So, too, was Glen Boss who spent his infant phase at Beaudesert before moving with his mother to Gympie. Visits to the local track with his grandmother fired his imagination and ambition. Consequently, the former gold town became the launching pad for his career in the pigskin.
Robert Thompson, the Cessnock-born and bred horseman who has been a country stalwart in NSW, was also admitted while George Moore, the stellar international who started off on the back of ponies in Mackay, was elevated to the Legend status.
The jockey-trainer was an inaugural inductee in 2001.
In Saturday’s Doomben 10,000, Boss (on Scissor Kick) and Thompson (Big Money) will both look to add to their enviable records.
Hoofnote: Gympie folk will be hoping that Our Boy Malachi can successfully run out the 10,000 distance. It would be a bragging rights coup because the sprinter’s Maiden victory was at the Southside course. For the record, the son of the former Kenilworth-based stallion Top Echelon won by more than 11 lengths at 11/8 on for Sonja Wiseman on June 25, 2011, at its second lifetime outing.
