WITH most of us, and certainly our visiting holiday-makers, taking a well-earned break over the next few weeks, it is the busiest time of the year for our hard-working trainers and riders.
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The immediate focus is of course, our own Christmas Party race day at the Moruya Jockey Club on Sunday, being a full-TAB Saddle Up Sunday eight-event program which has attracted a total of 141 nominations from all across our region, which should ensure big fields and very competitive racing when final fields are declared.
For comprehensive coverage of all activities at the track on Sunday and all other information see the Moruya Jockey Club’s promotional poster for the meeting set opposite.
The day will also be a fundraiser organised by our regional Rotary Clubs in association with the Moruya Jockey Club for the new Oncology unit at Moruya Hospital which is now under construction, which I am sure will be happily and generously supported by all in attendance.
I hope to see Debi-Lee Saxton’s Lighthouse in the acceptances, who is looking for the hat-trick at the track, as is Brett Jones’ Macks Cutie, and Joe Ible’s Vision And Verse, who is also our sole nomination for tomorrow’s provincial meeting at Kembla Grange.
The Community Christmas Cup over 1425m, the feature event of the card, should be a cracker and hopes are high for a home-track victory.
A wonderful day awaits us all and I can’t wait to see the final fields when declared.
There’s been plenty of action across the region over the past week to focus on, the highlight for me being the great, but very close, win by Matt Wood’s Brockman at Goulburn last Thursday.
In the feature Fred Cooper Cup (1600m) with young Deanne Panya in the saddle, Brockman took the lead about 200m from the post and bravely held off the late challenge by Danny Williams’ race-favourite Bag Of Nickel’s by a nose at the line.
I expect we might see Brockman next step out in the Narooma Cup over the same distance at Moruya on January 5.
Joe Ible’s Rush To Judgement also ran brilliantly to claim a close second from almost last at the turn in the Benchmark 55 (1400m) event which ended the day’s racing.
Both Roly Saxton and Neil Perryman rode at the meeting.
John Marzol’s Grey Drama, with star apprentice Samantha Clenton aboard, ran in the No-Metro-Wins for males (1100m) event at the rare twilight meeting at Rosehill on Friday.
He was still in the race about 150m from the post but faded late to miss a placing.
Vision And Verse, John’s Mineral Deposit and Kevin Cassidy’s Goodlookin’Rooster were set to run at Kembla Grange on Saturday but all were scratched on the morning as a consequence of the heavy-nine rated track.
However Roly had two rides at the meeting for Bathurst trainer Paul Theobald but neither found their way into the placings in their respective events.
It was another successful day in the saddle for Tim Phillips at Saturday’s Gosford Picnic meeting where he rode in all five races on the card.
After a fourth placing in the opening race, Tim rode Donna Grisedale’s winner of the second, then a second for Tracey Bartley in the third, and then won the feature Picnic Cup on Donna’s Frankenbeans by a nose.
The day ended with another second on Donna’s Dane Cheval.
Of the five Moruya runners at Sunday’s Canberra meeting it was Kevin’s Goodlookin’Rooster doing the best with an eye-catching closing fourth from last at the turn in the Benchmark 60 (1200m) sprint.
Unfortunately for Brett Jones and Neil Perryman, in a frustrating end to the day at Queanbeyan on Tuesday, Macks Swiftly got loose at the gates and bolted and was scratched.
Roly rode a winner and a close second for local trainers at the meeting.
Luke Pepper’s promising Miss Ready returns to the track, first-up from a spell, at Rosehill tomorrow in race four, a fillies and mares Benchmark 80 (1200m) sprint, with Tye Angland aboard.
Good luck to Luke and connections.
As there will be no Friday editions of the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner for the next few weeks, I would like to wish everyone a very happy, safe and relaxed Christmas and New Year.
On your calendars, pencil in Monday, January 5 as the huge Narooma Cup meeting which will take place at Moruya before my column returns.
Until the New Year, good luck and good punting.
