(Photo: Ross Stanley)
November 19, 2021
Peter Thornton was on to a good thing when he put his Red Dazzler mare Miss Bam to Better Than Ready.
From just 16 opportunities, the lightly raced More Than Ready stallion harvested eight wins that included four at Listed level.
The first product was Arnwood – he was city placed at two and in the frame nine times from 14 outings to date.
His full brother, the three-year-old Sherwood Prince, has an 11: 3-2-3 record at present.
Glenn Richardson, the duo’s Nanango trainer, found a most attractive debut target for their little sister at Rockhampton on November 5.
Princess Marian (Hannah Richardson, $3.10) completed her task in the maiden over 1050 metres that was reserved for her gender and age group.
She picked up the relevant QTIS bonus of $12,750 for a two-year-old filly and banked a total of $31,050.
The three siblings, with the legendary Northern Dancer on both sides of their pedigree, are on-pace types.
The stablemate Navillus Excel (Hannah Richardson, $8) ran second in Class 1 company on the same program.
The Exceed And Excel gelding has been renamed by his new ownership that is headed by Dexter Sullivan – originally the Godolphin bred bay from the Lonhro mare Cleanse was called Deterge.
James McDonald was aboard for his first start when he ran last on a heavy Warwick Farm surface in December 2018.
After six assignments for James Cummings, Deterge had three more New South Wales mentors for one solitary victory at Queanbeyan.
More than four months after missing a place at Wagga Wagga, Richardson saddled up his newcomer at Caloundra in mid-October for the first of his two northern essays thus far.
The five-year-old, that was a $51 to $91 drifter, performed pleasingly in running sixth.
The Richardson team has also scored goals in recent weeks with Mr Noddy at Clifton and Ayeptee at Mount Perry.
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(Photo: Ross Stanley)
Country Cups Challenge Update
It is hard to fathom why several of the Country Cups Challenge fields have been light on for numbers.
Five went around in the $15,000 event on the dirt at St George last weekend when Palate, the runner up in the $12,000 Kumbia Cup, had thirteen lengths up its sleeve at the wire.
The widely travelled Better Than Ready mare that is ensured of a place in the Final’s line up, is an entry for the last of the Qualifiers, the $45,000 Roma Cup.
Her five outings since linking up with Bassett Park trainer Ben Waldron have returned three wins and two seconds.
Despite a $20,000 purse, Mount Isa’s leg in September attracted just seven starters.
The outcome was a trifecta for the Steve Royes stable with Grand Symphony, Loud Enough and Level Eight.
On the other hand, persistence has paid off for Mackay conditioner Olivia Cairns.
Her charge Ammoudi Bay has made the final, courtesy of a breakthrough in the Mount Perry Qualifier.
In earlier heats, the Starcraft gelding finished second at Yeppoon and fifth at Moranbah.
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Burnett To The Beach Leaderboard
On December 4 at Nanango, the Benchmark 55 Handicap over 1600 metres will be the fourth of eleven rounds in the South East Country Racing Association’s competition.
Rural racing followers at Lee Park will no doubt relish watching the television coverage from Doomben of the Finals for the Country Cups Challenge and Country Stampede.
It is also the ideal chance to have a trackside pre-Christmas gathering.
The fashion theme is ’Tis The Season.
The Burnett to the Beach points system starts off with 10 points for first,s eight for second, seven for third and so on down to two for eighth with all other finishers awarded one point.
The current leaders are as follows:
- Horse: Kakatiya 22, Gaius Julius and Modern Family 18;
- Trainer: Kym Afford 31, Bob Murray 22, Kristen Roon 22;
- Jockey: Shannyn Stephen 20, Damien Boutet and Kelly Gates 15.
The Kumbia leg on Cup day was taken out by East Esplanade.
The Toowoomba gelding was saddled up by Bradley Puckeridge and handled by Lilli Barr, the rookie who is indentured to Eagle Farm trainer Les Ross.
Meanwhile, the trifecta at Mount Perry was filled by Gaius Julius (David Reynolds, Corrine Miles) Modern Family (Kym Afford, Shannyn Stephan) and Kakatiya (Kristen Roon, Kelly Gates)
The total prize pool is $11,000.
The editions at Wondai and Burrandowan are scheduled for next Anzac Day and May 7, 2022 respectively.
