18 October 2022 | Ashleigh Paikos
Racing has returned to Collie for the new season, with the Spry’s Meat Market King Coal Cup the feature of the day, where we saw Celebrity Chef taking out the $8,000 cup for trainer/driver Chris Playle.
After beginning faultlessly off the 10m handicap, the five-year-old found herself in the lead, and even after surrendering the lead with two laps to go, still came home the better to win by 2.6m in 2:12:3 over the 2670m standing start.
“She steps so well, and had been super consistent, I thought she was way overs,”
“She is a great stand horse; I can’t believe that’s the first stand she won. We aimed her at Collie because she steps so well.” Playle said.
With two runners in the race, Playle was required to drive his handy mare due to ownership regulations, but after Sweetdream Trunkey galloped her way out of contention as soon as the strands released, it was all up to Celebrity Chef to fly the flag for the stable and at $14 odds, she made her connections proud.
“I’ll keep taking her to Collie and see what’s between those meetings for her. We will stick to stands.”
The meeting kicked off with a win for the locals, with first-up starter Axle Rocks claiming his maiden win for Wayne and Jack Justins. At $17 odds, the flashy double westbred was able to come from behind the leader in the final stages to beat the favourite by a neck over the 2050m in 2:04:5.
Graeme Waters and Hayden Charles joined forces for a double on the day, with Jamanco kicking off the celebrations in race two with an all the way victory over the 2050m mobile start, claiming the narrow win in a winning mile rate of 2:04:8.
The duo didn’t have long to wait, with Lorinda Kate winning in the same fashion as her stablemate, with an all the way victory from barrier one in race four, holding on by a short-half-neck margin in 2:01:7 at her first start for her new connections.
Minor Catastrophe started first up for Aiden De Campo on Sunday, with the four-year-old proving too strong for her rivals after settling in the breeze for the majority of the 2050m journey, kicking away to win with ease by 15.6m in 2:08:8. The victory brought up the four-year-old’s seventh career win from just 32 starts, her first win since January, where she took out the Sweetheart Series in Busselton for 2022.
It was another one for the locals, but this time it was Fleur Du Maquis taking top spot for trainer Bianca Ashcroft. Driven by Kyle Symington, the four-year-old who started from barrier one in race six over the 2050m trip was able to lead all the way, holding on for a narrow victory in 2:02:4, bringing up the four-year-old’s sixth career win.
With five of the seven runners in race seven prepared by Hayden Reeves, the Coolup based trainer would have been hoping to take top spot, and even after starting off the 50m handicap in the stand, it didn’t seem to worry race favourite Batavia Blackhole, with the veteran of the race coming out on top in 2:05:1 over the 2020m journey. The win gave Symington a double in the cart on the day.
Hayden Hancock made the trip to Collie with just the one runner in tow, but the day proved to be quite fruitful with Sanford Bart battling it out in the breeze for almost the entire journey, proving too good in the last to win with ease in 2:06:2.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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