Cup wins for any stable or owner are a pinnacle success but winning your hometown cup for the first time provides a lifetime memory. That was the case at Ilfracombe on Saturday when Jarhead stormed home for victory in the 1400 metres Donaldson Family Willowie Cup Open Handicap to give local trainer Rodney Little his first hometown Cup win and part owner Gary Stoll his first ever cup win. Not so for apprentice jockey Emma Bell who won the Willowie Cup in 2017 on One Grey and on Saturday produced the perfect ride on Jarhead to swallow up the opposition in the last 100 metres and win running away by almost a length from Fairy Me Home and Van Winkel. Fittingly Jarhead’s win was a reward for loyal owners of the Little stable namely Shane Dowling, Gary Stoll and John Delahunty and when you consider Bell rides the majority of the stable’s runners the result had the feeling of a family affair.
The race panned out perfectly for “cups queen Emma” who settled Jarhead in second last place and was able to watch the race unfold in front of her when apprentice Alisha Ross on Fairy Me Home circled the field 800 metres from home to put pressure on leaders Metson, Hazar and I Wanna Be A Jeep and the speed increased as the field hit the top of the straight with only 200 metres to run. Bell was able to track up behind the leading group without having to use too much petrol whilst the effort told on the leading group and when Fairy Me Home hit the front 100 metres from home Bell produced Jarhead for a final burst which saw them race to a convincing win. It was also the first career Cup win for Jarhead which has competed in Open company races since joining the Little stable in September 2020 and has regularly placed behind top gallopers Bollente and Sizzalating. Little is sure to set Jarhead for another “hometown” Cup win when the Muttaburra Cup is run in August the stable having been based there prior to the move to Ilfracombe.
Success continued for Emma Bell when she combined with trainer Danielle O’Brien to win the 1200 metres Rayners Crane Hire Class B Handicap on consistent mare Spallina defeating Portabelle and Nitt Whitt. Bell has ridden Spallina in most of its starts for Danielle and in fact was on board when Spallina provided O’Brien with her first winner as a trainer at Tambo in May. After sitting on the speed throughout Bell was able to save Spallina for a final charge to the line to win by a half-length and the Epaulette mare is developing a good record having won two and placed second three times in its last five starts.
On a day when leading Melbourne jockey Jamie Kah created history by becoming the first jockey to ride 100 winners in a season in metropolitan Victoria local female jockeys played their part by riding four of the seven winners on the day at Ilfracombe. Apart from Emma Bell’s double Alisha Ross and Brooke Richardson both scored wins on the day. Ross and Richardson fought out the finish of the 1400 metres George Bourne & Associates BM55 Handicap providing trainer Ray Hermann with a quinella result when Do I Have To (Ross) gained an inside run in the straight to outsprint Sizzlesun (Richardson) with Archade in third. Some 40 minutes before this race owner Clarrie Hermann had witnessed his star country gelding Bollente run an unlucky third in the Rockhampton Cup and with Do I Have To carrying the same colours it was a strong indication a victory was looming for the Real saga mare. Brooke Richardson had earlier combined with trainer David Rewald to win the Central West Rural & Moore Civil Plant Hire 1000 metres BM 60 Handicap on Granola State.The vastly improved gelding was having its first run since April and Richardson bided her time sitting behind the leaders until turning for home before unleashing a powerful finish to defeat Music Award by a half length with The Launcher and Zebonet close up less than a length from the winner. The finish was typical of the four 1000 metre races on the day where strong finishing bursts denied leaders hanging on for victory except in the case of Tan Dinh.
Trained and ridden by David Rewald Tan Dinh was able to lead throughout to win the 1000 metres Ringrose Button Chartered Accountants, Pro Tyres Class 1 Handicap holding off the strong finish by Para Park with He’s A Wild One third. The Better Than Ready filly impressed Rewald with the strength of the win and it has now recorded two wins from only three starts for the stable.
Both Kalmar and Won Capilano produced strong wins off wide runs in the other two 1000 metre races sustaining their runs through the line. In the Barcaldine Cleaning Services/O’Briens Garage/Ilfracombe Produce Maiden Plate Won Capilano backed up from a second at Stamford last week to go one better and defeat first starter Blade Man in a photo finish with Serratalli a close third. Jockey Tim Brummell continued his winning association with the Boy Forster stable by pushing forward mid-race so that by the turn Won Capilano even though three wide was full of running and under strong riding was able to snatch victory from Blade Man near the post. Similarly Jason Missen on the Patrick O’Toole trained Kalmar commenced a three wide move mid-race in the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners BM 60 Handicap so that by the turn the gelding was sharing the lead and was able to gain a winning advantage holding off Night In Paradise and Strawberry Blonde in the run to the line. Kalmar recorded its fifth win in 25 career runs and provided a welcome return to the winner’s circle for the O’Toole stable.
In an historic day for the Club over 700 people turned out for the races to enjoy the seven- race program which was created by Racing Queensland adding an extra race and dividing the BM 60 race into two divisions thus compensating trainers and owners for the loss of recent meetings due to rain at Alpha and Barcaldine. Racing now heads to Blackall next weekend followed by Longreach and Tambo with all three meetings having an extra race added to the program by Racing Queensland.
ROB LUCK
Photo courtesy of RLR Photography

Apprentice Angela Jones has made a stunning start to her riding career after riding winners in the first three races of her career at Dalby on Saturday.

History pundits within racing have been feverishly scouring the record books this morning to establish whether this is the first example of a jockey starting their career with three consecutive winners.  If you can shed any light on the subject, please make contact with the On The Bit Racing Australia team.

Jones was clearly excited about her debut but could not believe how it unfolded.  “Before the first race I was pretty much a wreck, very nervous and then it went so fast,” claimed Jones.

When asked if she could have scripted her debut any better, Jones replied: “I’m a bit overwhelmed actually, and it probably hasn’t really sunk in yet. I would really like to thank everyone around me, the connections who had trust to put me on today, my Mum & Dad, and Tracey and Lindsay Hatch of course”. Jones’ connections weren’t asked to wait long with the talented young hoop riding her winning debut on Race 1 on the card. Riding the short price favourite Miss Charlee Lyn (pictured) for Mark Currie, Angela got the best of the 5 year old mare, holding off Beau Appo on Hisgrace by 0.2L with Verve for Anna Bakos a further 1.5 lengths away in third.

Angela’s second winner came on her very next ride aboard Toecarnargie Man ($4.80) in Race 2 over the 800m.  The Ross Coveney trained 7-year-old grey, brought up his third win on the track, thanks to a very well-judged ride from Jones. Filling the placings were Misslleers ($2.50F) ridden by Ron Goltz for the Kirkwood barn, with Oyashio Drift ridden by Skye Bogenhuber for Jake Capewell in third.

Her extraordinary day continued in Race 4, where Jones brought up the third leg of her hat trick in just her third ever race ride. Riding Jochberg ($2.60F) for Donald Baker, Angela guided the 6-year-old gelding home to win comfortably by just under 2 lengths, defeating Apithanos ridden by Ron Goltz and Enterprise Grand with Gary Geran aboard filling the placings.

Jones’ out of this world debut almost went cataclysmic, where her quest to extend her winning sequence to four winners in her first four races was brought undone by the narrowest of margins. In the last race of the day, By The Law, ridden by Angela Jones finished second, beaten less than a length by Mac’s Gal ridden by Shannyn Stephan for Ben Park.

Congratulations to Angela and all connections. We look forward to watching the rest of your career through On The Bit Racing Australia and beyond.

 

Photo Courtesy of Sariah Skye Champkin

The result of the Barcy Old Boys Open Handicap 1200m at Barcaldine races on Saturday showed that it was all systems go for Eschiele and Bollente to head to Brisbane for the final of the Country Cups Challenge 1650m to be run at Doomben on Saturday 5^th December.  Both gallopers were racing for the first time since their heat wins at Longreach on 26^th September (Bollente) and Cloncurry on 9^th October (Eschiele) as trainers Ray Hermann and Todd Austin plan their path to the final. The race lived up to punters expectations as favourite Eschiele ($2) was able to hold off the determined finish by Bollente ($2.60) to score by three quarters of a length with Boingo three lengths back in third.

Apprentice jockey, Alisa Ross claimed 2kg on Eschiele to give it the weight advantage over Bollente carrying 63.5kg versus 65.5kg. With no noted front runner in the race, Ross bounced Eschiele to the front and set a steady tempo whilst Bollente drifted to the tail of the field up to five lengths off the leader. From the 600m a bit more pace went into the race as Boingo race up to Eschiele with Bollente starting to move around the field from the back. Eschiele was able to sprint at the top of the straight and gained a two-length lead as Bollente started to work home wider on the track but still some four lengths off the lead. It was the winning move by Ross as even thought Bollente ate into the margin with a strong late finish, it was unable to peg back Eschiele. Both horses lost no admirers with their respective runs and will now probably have one more run before taking their place in the final.

Eschiele has a large team of owners including local, Lyle Balderson and it became a red letter day for Lyle as he was back in the winners circle in the following race, the Golden Oldies Gone But Not Forgotten Maiden Plate over 1300m when Red Red Rose which he is part owner of scored an exciting neck win over Ventures Benir with Lola Mae third.  The cheering could be heard across the track as Lyle celebrated his first double as an owner with it also providing a race to race double for Todd Austin & Alisha Ross.

The feature event on the program, the Barcy Sparky Doug Gesch Memorial Benchmark 60 Handicap 1600m, also produced a thrilling finish with the Mark Oates trained Goldsay leading the whole race and fending off Rhyola and Pirelli with just over a half-length covering the three runners at the finish. The race was on in earnest from the jump as apprentice Tessa Townsend eagerly sought the lead on Goldsay and apprentice Dan McGillivray on Pirelli basically went head to head from the 1400m until the finish with Goldsay refusing to surrender the lead and only getting the better of Pirelli in the shadows of the post with Rhyola snatching second away from Pirelli in the final couple of strides. Goldsay has now won twice at 1600m both times on the grass track in the Outback.

 

The first two races on the program provided a winning return for the two Cairns based jockeys Scott Gittos and Nor Yadi who made the long trip to Barcaldine before travelling to Gladstone to ride at their Melbourne Cup meeting. Both produced polished rides with Scott Gittos leading all the way on Begin, trained by Kim McGovern to defeat Chilli Prawn by over four lengths with Floss’s Dream a distant third. The apprentice jockey made good use of Barrier 1 and Begin’s pace to quickly be in front before sprinting clear in the straight. In contrast, Nor Yadi produced a patient ride on Aquagem to win the The Goannas Are Coming QTIS Band 0-60 Handicap to grab victory over Night In Paradise and Babylon Express. The Patrick O’Toole trained Aquagem had not won at 1200m in four previous attempts and Nor Yadi allowed the mare to find her feet early before coming with a well-timed run in the final 200m to bring up win number four from twenty career starts.

 

While all eyes turn to Melbourne this Tuesday for The Cup, a twilight meeting takes place at Longreach – one of ten tracks racing in Queensland on the day and then racing heads to Isisford this Saturday for the rescheduled Ross Cup day.

Photo Courtesy of RLR Photography

 

Leading trainer John Manzelmann looks to have a strangle hook on both the Country Cup & Country Stampede series qualifiers at Home Hill tomorrow.

Manzelmann lines up Drumbeat’s Choice, Shiranda & Stone Warrior in the Country Cup qualifier in the small field of seven over the 1460m. The other interesting runner in the race is the Bevan Johnson trained Chinchinbilla who has also accepted at Yeppoon where the track is currently rated a Heavy 10.

Platinum Tycoon to be ridden by Trinity Bannon is the class horse in the Stampede qualifier but will need to contend with the impost of 63kg from a sticky gate (8). Despite that, if he brings the form which saw him win his last start at Mackay (pictured), Platinum Tycoon will be turvy tough to beat.