Grafton preview: David McColm hopes new additions can kick off on a winning note as Far Too Easy prepares for another feature

Kosciuszko-winning trainer David McColm has star galloper Far Too Easy on a path to another big race win while two new horses to the stable aim for first-up wins at Grafton.

Kosciuszko winner Far Too Easy is on target for another feature race next week. Picture: Grant Guy

Murwillumbah trainer David McColm is still on cloud nine following Far Too Easy’s Kosciuszko victory and has his sights set on another feature with his stable star but not before chasing a winning double at Grafton.

McColm and Far Too Easy will travel south again next week in search of another big prize – this one a Group 2.

“It was quite emotional to win the Kosciuszko after everything this horse has been through but he is a fighter with an amazing will to win,” said McColm.

“He is still in work and will go The Hunter at Newcastle on Saturday week,” said McColm.

“We will head down there next week and hope for a little bit of rain again. He just excels in the soft range and if we get that, he will be a winning chance.”

Far Too Easy proves dreams can come true, and races past Front Page to become the 2024 Kosciuszko champ for @DavidMccolm2 and @CWilliamsJockey 🙌@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/rbntV0Fb1x

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) October 19, 2024

The Form: Complete NSW Racing thoroughbred form, including video replays and all you need to know about every horse, jockey and trainer. Find a winner here!

Firstly, McColm’s attention will on two new recruits to the stable,

Preemptory resumes in the Jacaranda Cup (1100m) and Brisbane jockey Michael Cahill will make the trip to ride the gelding.

The six-year-old had solid form in TAB Highways at Rosehill and Randwick for previous trainer Danny Williams and has come back in great order with two good trials wins at Deagon and Murwillumbah.

McColm said he gets offered quite a few horses and knocks many of them back but a look at Preemptory’s form from just 15 starts encouraged him to give him a go.

“His form in the Highways in Sydney indicates he’s got a bit of ability and he is still relatively lightly raced so I was happy to take him,” he said.

“The form up here is probably just a little below what he has been in which will help him.

“We are pretty happy with him. He has really settled in really well up here and is coming along nicely.

“He had a couple of little setbacks before he come to me. Some time ago, he had tie-back surgery and earlier this year he got pneumonia as well so he had a bit of time off.

“His two recent trials were really good, I couldn’t be happier with him and he is well and truly on song.

Preemptory got the gaps at the right time and was too good today!@[e-mail]/m0Pv11dDaT

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 15, 2023

“I think he will run a terrific race and the other thing is, if the sting is out of the ground, his form indicates to me that he revels in it.

“His last trial here at Murwillumbah was on a heavy track and he just got through it easy.”

“If he can improve a length or so, then he would probably go to a midweek race in Brisbane.”

McColm’s other runner is Ellro in the Super Maiden Plate (1200m) with Cahill to ride her as well.

Like Preemptory, she started her career with another trainer and placed in two of her four starts in her first campaign.

The daughter of Lonhro has impressed her new trainer in winning both her barrier trials at Deagon.

“I have a really high opinion of this mare. I think she is a nice find to be honest,” McColm said.

“She has come to me from Peter Sinclair who has done a terrific job with her.

“She was racing against inferior opposition in Moree and Gunnedah to what she will meet over here so she will have to step up a little bit but her work at home and her two trials have been very good.

“When she got here, she went alright but she has jumped out of the ground the last six or eight weeks and is putting it all together.

“She will run a mighty race first-up and if she doesn’t win, she will be right there.”

WICKED GAMES TO BOUNCE BACK FROM LUCKLESS RUN

Trainer Wayne Wilkes advised to put a line through the latest run of Wicked Games and assess him on his dominant win the start prior when he heads to Grafton.

Wicked Games lost all chance at the start when he stumbled at Taree 19 days ago but it was a different story at Kempsey when he jumped straight to the front and raced away to win his maiden in a Class 1 race over 1900m by over four-and-a-half lengths.

He steps out in the Class 1 and Maiden Plate (2200m) with Jackson Murphy to ride.

“He was unlucky last start where he slipped coming out of the barriers then when he’s gone forward, a horse underneath him kept punching up keeping him three-wide into the first turn,” said Wilkes.

“Slipping at the start put him out of play altogether in that race.

“It was a forget me run and if you go back to the start prior at Kempsey, he was very dominant.

Wicked Games can bounce back from a luckless run last start when he heads to Grafton. Picture: Bradley Photos

“If he runs to that, he’s in with a chance and he has placed at Grafton before over the 2200m.”

Wilkes was more than pleased with the stable debut of Volare on her new home track at Taree on October 18.

The daughter of Hellbent had been beaten nearly 40 lengths in her four starts a two-year-old but she had shown ability in her trials.

Returning as a three-year-old for her new stable, she was game in defeat when a length-and-a-half third behind Flame Of Hestia.

She looks a big chance in the Maiden Handicap (1000m) on that performance.

“On what I had seen from her at home, she ran right up to that so I was quite pleased,” he said.

“She has come on from that run with natural improvement in fitness and just looking at the form in this race, she is going to be thereabouts somewhere.”

Wilkes’ other two runners for the day, Chaserlette and Fortheo, are outsiders in the TAB markets in their respective races but Wilkes feels they are each-way chances.

“I don’t think Chaserlette handled the track at Port Macquarie. She is a horse that jumps, runs and travels and she didn’t do that last start,” he said.

“Put a line through that run and I expect her to be back on her game at Grafton this week.

“Fortheo has shown us a bit at home but he’s still learning.

“He needed the run first-up and I think we will see a better horse this week.”