March 15, 2019
The cleverly named and expertly placed Fort Myer held firm for Scott Pedron just over a week ago.
The Nanango trainer claimed his first Brisbane success when the five-year-old battled on valiantly in the BM 65 Handicap (1640m, Matthew Palmer, $11) at Doomben on March 9.
A prizemoney cheque has been banked after each of the gelding’s last 13 engagements.
The sequence, put together at a dozen different venues, began last September.
Scott is full of praise for the contribution jockey Maurice Crawford made in executing new riding plans.
The account deposits for the fit conveyance totalled $34,300 and included a win, four seconds and three thirds.
Fort Myer, owned by Debbie and Stan Corbett, was a luckless fifth at the same course and distance this past Wednesday.
Stewards noted that he “over-raced while in the lead in the early and middle stages of the event. Approaching the 500m, he was bumped by the hind quarters of Foxy Affair, which turned Foxy Affair in, causing Fort Myer to be tightened for room. A post race veterinary examination revealed the gelding had sustained some minor lacerations to its near hind leg and was mildly lame.”
Furthermore, Foxy Affair’s jockey Dale Smith copped a nine day suspension.
He “was found guilty of a charge of careless riding under AR 131 in that he permitted his mount to shift in near the 500m tightening the running of Fort Myer, which had to be checked, became unbalanced and lost ground.”
Fort Myer takes his monicker from his sire Arlington, an historic military site that sits near to America’s famous national cemetery.
Fast Arli ($12), Fort Myer’s stablemate, rattled home for third money with Michale Hellyer in the irons in the same race on Wednesday.
The Arlington mare is raced by Scott, his wife and trackwork rider Kym, his parents Athol and Karen along with Matthew Brown, George Frederiksen and the string’s equine chiropractor Tork Cowan.
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Bits And Bridles
- Jason Hoopert has moved from the Sunshine Coast to Mount Isa. He has bookings for Croydon Hampton’s duo Saltwater Sledge and My Crimson Lad at Buchanan Park on Saturday. A familiar figure for him will be Ray Hancock. The former South-East hoop is on the comeback trail. His recent Mount Isa double was his first time in race day silks since May last year. Previously he had ridden at Alice Springs, Port Augusta and Hawker, a spot some 400 kilometres north of Adelaide.
- It is not a strong weekend for several country clubs. Bundaberg has drawn just 30 final acceptors as has Mount Isa, while Moranbah (28) and Charleville (27) have even fewer candidates seeking a pay day.
- On Friday, Hannah English partners four for John Manzelmann at Bowen, the stand-in venue in for Townsville. The combination links up three times at Moranbah the next day. The Glenn Richardson yard has one runner for the weekend. Gregory Hayes will pilot Tenor Lass in the Charlton’s Lawyers Maiden (1212m) at Bundaberg.
- The All-Star Mile, with its first prize of $2,250,000, makes a curious debut at Flemington at 5:10pm (DST) on Saturday. The novel event is designed to involve the person in the street in quite a simple but potentially enriching way. Firstly, public voting decided 10 of the 14 starters in the $5 million affair. Secondly, those who lodged a selection became eligible for big bickies. 14 Ambassadors were drawn from the the 63,982 folk who voted. In a sweep-style process, they were each allocated a horse. The person lined up with the eventual winner scores a cool $250,000 with a further $250,000 distributed to the other 13 eager hopefuls. The last horse to finish wins $90,000 for its actual owners and $10,000 to the lucky public player.
- By the way the way, Balf’s Choice (9793 votes) and the Chris Munce trained Urban Ruler (8428) were the most supported aspirants, while Moss’n’Dale (5072) and Mr Moneybags (5013) were ninth and tenth on the tally board respectively.
- The official Handicap Ratings, shown in brackets, do show up an area of concern regarding quality gallopers missing the cut. Happy Clapper (118), Hartnell (116), Hawkshot (105) and Mystic Journey (109) made it. They were chosen as wild cards. Alizee (116), Grunt (113) and Material Man (110) gained their berths through the voting mechanism. However the first two emergencies, Le Romain (114) and Trap For Fools (110), have higher rankings than seven horses that picked up a slot.
- At the other end of the scale, Urban Rule (75) and Mr Moneybags (82) seem likely to struggle with the weight-for-age conditions. Pleasingly for their connections, $90,000 goes to those that occupy seventh to last placings.
- This initiative by the Victorians to get down to grass roots does provide a counter balance to its springtime expenditure on the elite international Cups visitors.
- The Queensland spotlight focusses on the Gold Coast in the coming days. Every race there on Saturday carries QTIS Bonus opportunities. The $500,000 Aquiis QTIS Two-Year-Old Jewel and the $200,000 TAB Three-Year-Old Jewel are restricted to QTIS eligible contenders. Next Monday and Tuesday, 392 lots are catalogued for the Magic Millions March Yearling Sale.
