Hard Stride overcomes barrier and weight to take out Country Stampede

RACING: A 61kg impost and the widest barrier in the race wasn’t enough to stop Toowoomba’s Hard Stride from taking the crown as the country sprint king.

Jockey Paul Hamblin giving the fist pump after winning on Hard Stride. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

RACING: A 61kg impost and the widest barrier in the race wasn’t enough to stop Toowoomba’s Hard Stride from taking the crown as the country sprint king.

The 10-year-old did all the work in the $50,000 Country Stampede Final (1110m) at Doomben.

Trainer Jason Judge declared the veteran as the best horse in the race earlier in the week, and he proved it, guided to the front by Paul Hamblin and scoring by the barest of margins.

“We planned the race for a bit and everything just came together,” Judge said.

“We had the class horse of the field and the class jockey. It was a tough win, but a good win.

“He has the speed, and it was a drop in class from what he’s been racing against.

“He’s a good eater and can get a bit fat, so we put him through some fast work on Thursday to stay on top of things.”

Sent out as a $19 chance by bookmakers, Judge said he has received a lot of messages of support after the race.

“It was a really good feeling because there’s so many people involved in the horse,” he said.

“From the owners to people around the track and off it, a lot of people backed him.

“There’s been messages from Sydney and Newcastle to Dirranbandi and St George.

“We came into the race pretty confident. The way he looked, I thought whatever beats him is going to deserve it.”

No concrete plans have been made on the immediate future of Hard Stride, however Judge is keeping the first day of the Magic Millions carnival on the Gold Coast in his sights.

“We’ll freshen him up a bit, and might look at the 900m race over the Magic Millions carnival,” he said.

“He doesn’t mind the Gold Coast track, he’ll drop in weight and hopefully there’s a bit of rain around.”

BAKER’S TICKET TO COUNTRY CUPS

Capping off a brilliant day for Toowoomba trainers in the country features, Mr Tickets ($26) finished as runner-up in the $105,000 Country Cups Challenge Final (1600m).

While Paniagua ($2.05 fav) showed his class over the concluding stages, Donald Baker’s seven-year-old made late ground from a long way back to finish two lengths behind the winner.

He was a further 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Rather Salubrious ($18) for Dalby trainer David Reynolds.

Originally published as Hard Stride overcomes barrier and weight to take out Country Stampede