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