July 1, 2017
Hivesville horseman Lindsay Anderson achieved the perfect outcome last Saturday when his only runners, Clouds and Glenthorn Avenue, spent time in Gympie’s winner’s circle with Gemma Steele in the saddle.
It was particularly useful that Clouds, on debut at the Southside course, had his rivals covered in the $10,000 RSL Club Cup Benchmark 65 (1470m).
The race was the opening leg of the $5,000 Three Cups Gold Rush Challenge for Trainers.
The other heats are the Nolan Muster Cup (1600m) in August and October’s Gympie Cup (1600m).
The first four placegetters are awarded 30,10, 5, 2 points respectively with one point going to each of the remainder.
The bonus is not won by the trainer whose representatives collectively amass the highest score. Rather, it revolves around individual horses.
Last year Pat Duff earned the incentive prize when Fasta Than Light clinched the second and the third offerings.
The scheme, which requires hopefuls to start in the Gympie Cup, obviously favours the milers.
In fact, the competition would probably open up more if the distances were 1170, 1470 and 1600 metres respectively.
Last weekend, Duff’s heavily favoured entrant Unbowed ran second to Clouds.
Neither of those quinella horses are established metric milers. The best of Unbowed’s three trips beyond 1400 metres was a second over 1660 metres at Doomben two years ago, Clouds was not disgraced a year ago when fifth over 1590 metres at Wodonga.
Glenthorn Avenue took his Gympie form line to an impressive 14: 6-4-2 by comfortably taking out the $8,000 Gympie RSLA Sub Branch Open (1170 m).
Anderson hopes to keep the ball rolling with Liverpool Jane in Saturday’s Lance Montana Media BM 55 (800m) at Esk.
The Brisbane Valley venue is in for a bumper day. A fantastic response to the non-TAB program led to a race being divided, resulting in six capacity fields with 14 reserves.
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(Photo: Ross Stanley)
Tapering Time
With all the national Group Ones for the racing year decided and the Queensland Winter Carnival almost over, there is a quiet period ahead before the excitement of spring kicks in.
The overall results of the elite level racing are a little surprising.
Yes, the juggernaut teams that Chris Waller and Darren Weir have at their disposal did top the tables but their depth of horses was not of the dominant kind.
Waller collected six through Winx, two per Egg Tart with Foxplay making his total of nine.
Weir’s best contributor was Black Heart Bart with four. Palentino, Stratum Star, Humidor and Volatile Mix all chipped in with one apiece.
Those two conditioners along with John O’Shea, Ciaron Maher, Peter and Paul Snowden and David Hayes and his partners picked up 33 of the 70 Group Ones available across five states.
Hugh Bowman topped the jockeys’ chart with 13 triumphs courtesy of Winx (6), Le Romain, Jameka, Invader, Clearly Innocent, Ruthven, Bonneval and Flying Artie.
Kerrin McEvoy’s nine successes involved partners Egg Tart(2), the Melbourne Cup hero Almandin, Russian Revolution, Our Ivanhowe, Foxplay, Bon Aurum, Global Glamour and Tycoon Tara.
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Highs And A Low For The Ladies
Condolences are extended to husband Gus and daughters Jessie and Montana as well as friends and associates of Donna Philpot, the former successful North Queensland jockey who perished in a Bendigo training accident on Tuesday.
Gus, presently a small string trainer at Bendigo, cut his teeth on the south-east Queensland country tracks when he was indentured to Reg Mackay at Ipswich.
On August 18, 1984, he was innocently astride Bold Personality when all but a few thought his mount was Fine Cotton.
During her apprenticeship stint with Pat Duff, Jessie travelled far and wide for the chance to race-ride.
Wondai, Gladstone and Cunnamulla are but three of her log book entries.
She rejoined the family in Victoria and has recently sported silk in the Canberra-Goulburn area.
Back in 1983, Gus’s very talented brother Danny suffered life-changing injuries in a race-fall at Doomben.
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Eight females and three males occupied the jockeys’ rooms at the Gympie meeting.
The ladies proved dominant, sweeping the five-handed card and harvesting four trifectas and a quinella.
Doubles went to Cecily Eaton and Gemma Steele with Tasha Chambers rounding out the rout.
Meanwhile, at Randwick, apprentice Rachel King chalked up a treble while fellow junior Courtney Van Der Werf was also on the winners’ list.
The girls claimed six at Morphettville, courtesy of Raquel Clark (4) and Jamie Kah (2).
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Don’t forget: Wondai’s Winter Race Day on July 8 is coming up fast.
