Amanda Turnbull completed a weekend she will long remember when scoring a treble – her third in three days – at Blayney’s Carnival of Cups meeting on Sunday.
Those earlier wins had come at the Tabcorp Park Menangle meetings on Friday and Saturday and despite the prospect of a “three-peat” seeming improbable, even for a talent such as Turnbull, the result was never in doubt, with her winners – all from her father’s stable – turning in dominant displays.
Happy To Go NZ ($1.20 favourite) took out the C0 Menangle Country Series heat by a big margin, rolling to the lead mid-way through the first lap and maintaining the blistering tempo set by early leader Stacy Anne Maree, creating a track record mile rate of 1:57.1 for the 1640 metres trip.
The Bettors Delight mare – whose dam is appropriately named Time To Fly – was a recent runner-up at Menangle, and she’ll be a definite prospect for the $25,000 final this Saturday night.
Oh I Am The One NZ ($1.20 favourite) scored a game win in the feature $12,240 Billy Soo Memorial Blayney Cup, sitting outside a free-running Kapow Shannon throughout, forging to the lead down the back straight the final time and kicking away around the turn for an easy win over the chasing pack, with stablemate Midnight Prowler NZ and Spanish Lustre NZ providing a Kiwi trifecta.
The winner’s mile rate of 2:00.8 for the 2400 metres smashed the previous record by more than two seconds, reinforcing Amanda’s view of him as “such a tough horse, he just keeps on finding in his races, and I’m prepared to drive him tough if I have to – he’s my kind of horse!”
The race commemorates a wonderful local identity whose Hang Sing Restaurant became a landmark for travellers from all around the country and at the race presentation a number of stories were fondly related.
Club president Max Kingham recalled that years ago, the Blayney cuisine – very much like the rest of Australia – “was steak, or flounder, and Billy told us we needed to give Chinese food a try, because we’d love it . He was right too and we didn’t need much persuasion after that.”
To fully appreciate the story, you need to understand that Max Kingham is known to everyone as “Butch” – because of his occupation!
Lap Dancer ($1.40 favourite) completed Amanda’s perfect weekend when he led for most of the trip in the C1 /C2 Menangle Country Series heat which closed out the very successful meeting. The Sportswriter four-year-old brushed home in 58.8 for a mile rate of 1:59.0, but could have gone much quicker, and he too will be well fancied in Saturday’s final.
At the meeting, Michael Brown, who sponsors the annual Indigenous Drivers Race – a series this year, with qualifying races at Dubbo and Wagga – made a presentation to Jessica Prior, winner of this year’s final at Menangle. A large number of her family made the trip to Blayney to join in the occasion, and Jess spoke engagingly about her win in the race, and her hopes for the future.
Other winners at the meeting were:
Shazam Shannon ($5.40, Peter Bullock/ John Vautin ) in a 3C0/3C1 sprint, to remain unbeaten this time in, and leading in a Rayngold trifecta;
Go Lassie Go ($6.00, Jason Gaffney/ Murray Sullivan) in C0 grade, in the day’s most exciting finish, with the judge taking quite a while to find a margin back to runner-up The Revenue Raiser;
Kyalla Dave ( $4.90, Nathan Hurst ) in C1 class, a typically aggressive drive from Hurst to find the lead off his second-row draw, to lead in a family quinella from younger brother Blair, with Tulhurst Paddy;
Uncle John ($2.70, Chris/ Anthony Frisby) in a C0/C1 final, courtesy of a gem of a drive from “Ants”, off the fence into the running line, then to the death, before clearing away on the final turn;
Likeallofus ($7.50, Wendy/ Emma Turnbull) in C2/C5 company, well-positioned in the one-one by Emma, and remaining unbeaten so far this season.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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