One of the standout performances across an amazing day of racing across six Queensland country venues was that of Hard Stride ($2.20F) winning the Jim Connolly Memorial Country Stampede Qualifier Open Handicap (1030m) in Gympie on Saturday.

The 10-year-old son of Street Sense carried the extraordinary import of 66kg to smash the track record at Gympie in a time of 1:00.47. Trained by Jason Judge and ridden by Paul Hamblin, Hard Stride jumped brilliantly from Barrier 1 and was never headed before putting the field to the sword on straightening, where Hamblin said, “See you later alligator on the bend”, winning as he liked by a huge margin.

Place getters who tried hard were Victory Toast ($4), trained by Beau Gorman, ridden by Ty Wheeler, and See Yourself ($4.80) trained by Corey & Kylie Geran and ridden by Stephanie Lacy.

Margin: 7L x 0.1L

Time: 1:00.47 Track Record.

 

Photo Courtesy of Michael McInally Photography

The Brown McCauley & Warren Gympie Cup has been taken out by Ritchford ($5) in spectacular fashion.

Trained by Jackie Crompton and ridden by Ty Wheeler, the 8-year-old son of Von Costa De Hero, toyed with his rivals winning the Cup by 4.75L and in doing so booking himself a spot in the Country Cup Final in Brisbane on 5 December.

“He is flying this horse, he has taken to the sand like a duck to water and when he gets to Brisbane he will be super competitive”, Wheeler said.

In daring tactics, Ty Wheeler made a mid race move which was key to the victory. “He jumped the gates and started strongly, we went with Fab’s Cowboy, then when we went around the back, I let him slide to the lead, and he kept increasing the margin”, Wheeler said.

“I was always worried by Fab’s (Cowboy), but when we put that margin on them on straightening, I was pretty confident from there”, Wheeler claimed.

It has been a big 7 days for Wheeler who won the Gatton Aprprentice Cup the week earlier in Redzeb for Caroline Allardyce at 20/1.

Ritchford has now won 3 races from 5 starts this preparation with 11 career wins overall, amassing prize money of $142,820.  Filling the placings in the Gympie Cup was Mahratta ($2.30F) and Fab’s Cowboy ($2.50).

Margin: 4.75L x 1.25L

Time: 1:39.95

 

Photo Courtesy of Michael McInally Photography 

The outstanding female riding stocks in Queensland Country Racing were again on display last weekend, where the girls rode the entire card at Taroom on Saturday. Leeanne McCoy, Natalie Morton, Cheryl Rogers & Bella Rabjones were in great form and rode the winner of all five races at Taroom. Cheryl Rogers rode a double and interestingly, of the five winners across the day, only one started as favourite.  Backing up the amazing performance of Tanya Parry who trained five winners across two venues, the girls at Taroom put on a dazzling display in a competitive day of racing. We had the great David Rewald on last night’s OTB TV episode who named Taroom as his favourite track. I’m sure he would have been most impressed by their performance.

Winton are prime to strike in the Country Cup Challenge final at Doomben on December 5 after Bollente demolished a good field to win the Longreach Cup Heat recently.

Since being purchased in April 2019 as a maiden from John O’Shea in Sydney, the father son duo of Clarry and Ray Hermann has seen Bollente now be considered as one of the most dominant horses on the country circuit with wins in 9 of his last 12 starts.

The rapid rise of Bollente has not been a total shock for jockey Matt Gray, who has piloted Bollente in all his 9 recent wins.  “He is a real nice type who just knows how to win. The further he goes the better and his ability to sprint under big weights is breathtaking” Gray said.

Trainer Ray Hermann is yet to pencil in any lead up runs for Bollente and a decision will be made in the coming weeks.

Photo Credit : RLR Photography