Aussie stable snippets

THEY say three out of four ain’t bad!

Well that’s precisely what Menangle husband and wife harness racing team Robbie and KerryAnn Morris have achieved when it comes to the Christmas Cup at Brisbane’s Albion Park.

Robbie is enjoying a three-week working holiday in the Sunshine State with a team of eight horses, and got some early success on Saturday night, scoring in the opening event with Dance For Glory (Artsplace-Twinkletoes (Tip Top Prince).

But it was eight-year-old gelding Bad Billy who delivered the festive cheer later in the night. Having just his second start at Queensland headquarters, he thundered home in the Christmas Cup.

“I had to do some work to catch them up because we were back in the field. He finished the race off nicely, but he does have some quality,” Morris said.

Bad Billy (Badlands Hanover-Total Credits (Courage Under Fire) gave the Morris camp their third win in the $21,000 feature event after they previously won it in 2016 with Iam Mr Brightside and the following year with Aztec Bromac.

In between the Morris wins, Grant Dixon won the Christmas Cup last year with Colt Thirty One.

Dixon is “temporary landlord” for Morris and his team while they campaign up north, and the two Christmas Cup winners will face off in Saturday night’s $50,000 Group Two Egmont Park Stud Qld Cup.

Bad Billy is drawn perfectly in barrier one, and the champ, Colt Thirty One, is in six for Dixon,

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IT must have been quite a spectacle 80 years ago, when a special train carriage was loaded for harness racing trainers competing at the Warragul and District Trotting Club’s inaugural meeting.

And it wasn’t just racegoers aboard, when the “race train” left Melbourne on Saturday, November 18, 1939. It carried horses, sulkies and gear as well as a big number of trotting enthusiasts, who bolstered the estimated crowd of more than 2000.

This Sunday sees the club staging an eight-event card to celebrate 80 years of racing with the highlight being a $10,000 Liberty Financial Trotters Cup over 2627metres.

As an added feature, trainers will be chasing an attractive bonus-the two horses off the front are eligible for a $200 trainer bonus; and this then increases $200 for each 10-metre handicap. So, if the 50-metre backmarker Monaro Maro is victorious, trainer Andy Gath will be $1200 better off!

It’s interesting to note that at the first-ever meeting, the winner got 17 pounds with second (two pounds) and third placing (one pound). However, the feature event carried 30 pounds prize one year to the winner.

One patron was reported as saying that “Warragul Trotting Club is here to stay”. And while the club may have had some ups and downs along the way, it is one of Victoria’s longest established harness racing clubs.

Eight meetings are held each season and this Sunday will see some of our best in action with Alford and Sugars being the headline acts, well supported by Caldow, Kate Gath, Bellman, Moran, Hunter, Walker, Petroff and Ewen. Then there’s rising stars in former local Michelle Phillips along with McGuigan, French, Barker, Costello and Brewin.

They’re racing at Warragul – for the 80th year

WHILE the recent “back to Wayville” meeting attracted a smaller crowd than the nostalgic first “return” meeting in 2017, those in attendance had a blast.

This week there have been calls to stage one meeting each month at the coliseum-like venue. Others have suggested it could be a Saturday night event, promoted as part of a summer racing carnival, with heats over two weeks going into a Wayville Cup final.

One keen fan may have hit the nail on the head when suggesting numbers could have been higher if the meeting hadn’t clashed with work Christmas parties. He added that October would alleviate this problem and there was another pushing for the running of Wayville Trotters’ and Pacers’ Cups.

Longtime and respected trainer Des Nolan was full of praise for Ryan Hryhorec after his mare Strawberry Mouse (Yankee Spider-Pacific Salute (Keystone Salute) won the Petstock Trotters event.

“You would go a long way to see a better drive-and that’s what Wayville (510 metres) was all about as tactics were so important,” Nolan said.

“We all stood next to where the horses entered the track which was exactly where my family used to sit each Saturday night 47 years ago. So, with the excitement of my horse winning, it also brought back many fond memories.”

And if you’ve ever wondered what a “seat of the pants” experience driving at Wayville might be, check out this great video. The Lee Beasley and Mary Chenoweth video (with GoPro footage from Mark Yole’s perspective, driving Artegra) is on the Mobile Rolling facebook page click here: 

Harness Racing South Australia praised all industry participants involved in the meeting for “making the night enjoyable and memorable”.

The controlling body said while a larger crowd would have been great, the evening had a fantastic atmosphere and everyone had an enjoyable night.

Runners come onto the track at Wayville              (Lee Beasley/Mary Chenoweth photograph)

 

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura