Widely tipped prospects Newmarket sprinters draw wide

The Rockhampton Newmarket race meeting has mushroomed to a record nine race TAB card with no fewer than 123 horses confirmed to run.

Tiger Legend wins the Battle Of The Bush final at Eagle Farm for jockey Ash Butler and trainer John Manzelmann. Picture: Grant Peters - Trackside Photography.

Friday’s One Syndications Rockhampton Newmarket race meeting has mushroomed to a record nine race TAB card with no fewer than 123 horses confirmed to run.

A capacity field of 16 sprinters are set to compete for the $100,000 prize money in the Newmarket (1300m) where two of the top prospects in John Manzelmann’s Tiger Legend and Craig Smith’s Art By Concorde (ABC) have drawn extremely wide.

Tiger Legend will jump from 13 gate while it is worse still for Art By Concorde from the extreme outside barrier at 16.

Manzelmann won the $200,000 Battle Of the Bush (1200m) when Tiger Legend was triumphant last start under 62kg for gifted Rockhampton heavyweight jockey Ashley Butler.

However, Butler will have to watch the Newmarket on television from the comforts of the jockey’s room.

This came about when Tiger Legend was handicapped at 58.5kg.

“My riding weight is 60kg these days and I am comfortable with that. I feel I would not do myself any good nor the horses for the trainers that support me by trying to ride any lighter,” Ash Butler said today (Wednesday).

Butler has four heavyweight engagements on Friday but on Saturday he gets a very realistic chance to win the $150,000 TAB Rockhampton Cup (1600m) on Namazu.

“Ï think he really has a mighty chance,” he told me more so with confidence than optimism.

As an aside, Namazu drew favourably at barrier three in the Cup while Master Jamie came up with the rails draw and locally owned Cocobrew Express (8).

The only notable absentee from the Cup field was last year’s runner-up Sunfall, which developed a fitness concern midweek prompting trainer Rodney Hay to rule him out.

In lieu of Butler for Art By Concorde, Manzelmann has opted for recently returned but now Brisbane based international jockey Ron Stewart with both chasing their first Newmarket win.

Art By Concorde’s (ABC) astute Roma based trainer Craig Smith tasted Rockhampton Newmarket success in 2012 with Emmett (Dean Tanti).

Interestingly, Smith has engaged Brisbane’s Marnu Potgieter for ABC and he is only one of three juniors with mounts in the non-claiming feature race.

ABC was 1.77 lengths fourth behind Tiger Legend in the Battle Of the Bush and will meet his conqueror 1.5kg better off at the weights on Saturday so he gets his chance to turn the tables.

Premier Queensland trainer Tony Gollan holds a strong Newmarket hand through Ef Troop (barrier 3) and Rockribbed (Angela Jones - 15).

The Rockhampton Jockey Club’s guest Winter Carnival jockey Brisbane’s Robbie Dolan rides Ef Troop, which is one of six rides he has on Friday.

Gollan will be represented by eight starters on Newmarket Day in a blitz aimed to accumulate sufficient points to lead convincingly in the $20K Trainers Bonus Challenge going into Saturday’s TAB Rocky Cup program.

Originally the Newmarket meeting was scheduled for eight races but the response to the Mini Loads Ken Russell Memorial Ratings Band 0-58 Handicap (1300m) was such (27) that Racing Queensland split it into two divisions.

Friday’s mammoth program should invigorate betting turnover given the diversity of the stakeholders with runners from a wide spread of Queensland.

The Callaghan Park jockey’s rooms will accommodate 25 riders – 18 male and seven females.

Racing commences at 11.29am and concludes at 4.44pm.