Hot weather forces Grafton races to head south
The final meeting for the Clarence River Jockey Club this year was relocated to Coffs Harbour yesterday as a result of the 40C temperatures
Grafton
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YESTERDAY’S scorching temperatures forced Racing NSW to shift the Clarence River Jockey Club’s final race meeting for 2020 to Coffs Harbour, but that didn’t slow down the racing action.
Grafton trainer Andrew Parramore got off to a winning start with a win in the opening race via gelding Fu Hao, who he believes has a bright future.
Fu Hao was having his eighth start and his first back from a three-month spell when he powered home to win the $22,000 Bob Chambers Pty Ltd Maiden Plate (1000m).
Fellow Grafton-trained rivals, Rock Odyssey (Daniel Want) and Zoffdacharts (Dwayne Schmidt) filled the minor placings.
“I think he’s going to be a nice little horse,” Andrew Parramore told Sky Thoroughbred Central’s Gary Kliese after the breakthrough win.
Parramore said the four-year-old son of Toorak had grown while out spelling and “come back all right”.
“I thought the thousand might have been a bit short but it was a nice run, he hit the line well. I think he can take the next step up.”
Parramore said Fu Hao “had been a bit immature but is getting better”.
Head Up High might be a handy staying prospect after he notched a second career win.
The Matt Dunn-trained gelding, a five-year-old son of Pierro, led and ran away from his opposition to win the $22,000 Mick Flick Horticulture Class 1/Maiden Plate (2100m).
He was having his 15th start and appears destined for more success at staying distances after his impressive display.
Stable foreman Toby McIntosh believes Head Up High is “an out and out stayer”.
“He’s a much better horse on top of the ground,” Toby McIntosh said.
“He’s racing well, there has been some pretty good form around him.”
McIntosh thinks there “are plenty more wins in him”.
Tawfiq Boy appreciated the drop in class when the Kris Lees-trained gelding won the $22,000 Paradox Media Open Handicap (1200m).
It was the first leg of a running double for the Newcastle based trainer, who has a Gold Coast stable.
Andrew Mallyon rode Tawfiq Boy to claim a ninth career win for his large syndicate and take his prizemoney over $330,000.
Mallyon was also on board Predictable Miss in the next race for Lees and piloted the four-year-old daughter of Iffraaj to a third career win at her 15th start in the $22,000 Elmac Engineering Class 2 Handicap (1600m).
Paul Grills completed a good two days when the Guyra trainer celebrated a maiden win with Fenerbache in the fifth.
Grills had made the long trek from his Black Mountain base near Guyra to Kempsey on Saturday where he had won a 2200m benchmark 45 handicap with Tickets For Youth.
He then went home with his winner but did a bearing on the float and had to swap trailers to return to Coffs Harbour yesterday where his lone starter, Fenerbache, finished too solidly for his opposition to win the $22,000 Puntingbaron Maiden Handicap (1600m).
The six-year-old gelding son of Bernardini was having his 15th start.
“He came to me after half a dozen starts,” Grills said after the win.
“He’d never been over any further than 1200m. I thought the company down here might have been a bit strong for him.”
Fenerbache made light of that worry and finished strongly for Jodi Worley.
Grills was delighted Fenerbache paraded better today with the help of the clerk of the course and his pony.
“He can be a bit of a handful at times,” he said.
Ilia, in contrast, is a delight to train for Grafton’s Shane Everson, who was delighted to take out the $22,000 Park Beach Plumbing Benchmark 66 Handicap (1400m), relegating Atlantic
City and Stylish Pattern to the minor placings.
“She’s a lovely, tough mare,” he said of the nine-year-old daughter of Any Given Saturday.
“She loves the stable life, comes off the track of a morning bucking.”
She has now won eight times from 94 starts for more than $190,000 in prizemoney.
To cap things off yesterday Crowned Empress kept her unbeaten record at Coffs Harbour intact when the Port Macquarie filly swept to another win in today’s $22,000 AJ Civil Projects Class 1 Handicap (1000m).
The three-year-old daughter of Hallowed Crown blitzed her rivals to notch her second win in seven starts.
Her only other win had come at Coffs in an 805m 2YO Maiden back in January.
Today she kept her unbeaten Coffs record with the promise of more to come for trainer John Sprague.
“That was very good, but what we expected all along. A lot of things haven’t gone her way.”
He thought her jockey, Ray Spokes, rode her perfectly, taking a sit in behind and allowing her to travel easily before giving a kick and running away from her rivals,” he said.
2020-21 NORTHERN RIVERS RACING ASSOCIATION PREMIERSHIPS
Unofficial and compiled by Geoff Newling after the Sunday, November 29 Coffs Harbour meeting.
TRAINERS
21: Matt Dunn.
11: Brett Bellamy.
8: Edward O’Rourke, John Shelton.
5: Warren Gavenlock.
4: Daniel Bowen, Cathy Chapman, Jim Jarvis, Kris Lees.
3: Brett Dodson, Toby & Trent Edmonds, Shane Everson, Owen Glue, Darren Graham, Joanne Hardy, Stephen Lee, Andrew Parramore, Jason Reilly, Paul Smith, John Sprague, Amy Usher.
2: Chris Anderson, Stephen Bennett, Fleur Blanch, Leo Clapham, Neil Creighton, Steve Field, Kacy Fogden, Paul Grills, Billy Healey, Bruce Hill, Allan Kehoe, Wayne Lawson, Graham Payne, Jan Pritchard, Colt Prosser, Barry Ratcliff, Andrew Sawden, Dwayne Schmidt, John Smerdon, Mark Stewart, Ross Stitt, Daniel Want, Marcus Wilson, Steven Wise.
1: Paula Barron, Jay Bellamy, Alan Boyd, Neville Boyle, Kristen Buchanan, Coralie Burnett, Michael Costa, Errol Creighton, Hilary Dew, Adam Duggan, Shane Edmonds, Terry Evans, David Fletcher, Allan Foran, John Gilmore, Neil Godbolt, Jenny Graham, Tony Green, Donna Grisedale, Carolyn Halliday, Scott Henley, Kelvin Hickmott, Tom Higgins, Sam Kavanagh, Annette Lee, Matthew McCudden, Chris Manson, Craig Martin, Cody Morgan, Chris Munce, Tony Newing, Mick O’Neill, Sharon Pepper, Glen Petersen, Steve Phelps, Bill Pholi, Marc Quinn, Barry Ratcliff, Ben Robinson, David Scanes, Lisa Sheppard, Daniel & Rocky Simonetta, Brad Smith, Sally Taylor, Chloe Thomas, Luke Thomas, John Wallace, Tess Wilkes, Peter Youngberry.
JOCKEYS
23: Ben Looker.
21: Matt McGuren.
17: Luke Rolls.
14: Kirk Matheson, Ray Spokes.
12: Belinda Hodder.
10: Jon Grisedale.
8: Andrew Mallyon.
5: Anthony Allen, Stephen Traecey.
4: Tegan Harrison, Jodi Worley.
3: Allan Chau.
2: Aaron Bullock, Andrew Gibbons, Jeff Kehoe, Noryuki Masuda, Ryan Maloney, James Orman.
1: Shane Arnold, Matthew Bennett, Michael Cahill, Shannon Doyle, Robbie Fradd, Ashley Morgan, Paul Payne, Kasey Stanley, Brooke Stower, Jasen Watkins, Ryan Wiggins, Travis Wolfgram.
APPRENTICES
10: Emily Atkinson.
9: Kyle Wilson-Taylor.
6: Leah Kilner.
3: Melea Castle.
2: Dylan Gibbons, Cejay Graham, Georgina McDonnell.
1: Zoe-Lee Cruickshank, Justin Huxtable, Mikayla Weir, Qin Yong.
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