Grafton preview: David McColm confident Ellro can make it two in a row

Kosciuszko-winning trainer David McColm will use Friday’s Grafton meeting to add some cash and all important benchmark ratings to his Championship bound contender.

One of the reigning Kosciuszko-winning trainer David McColm’s two 2025 Country Championships contenders is on target for her second win in as many starts since joining his small but select Murwillumbah stables.

A stunning – and typical – daughter of Australian Horse of the Year and subsequent Champion Australian Sire, Lonhro, Ellro was a popular yet narrow winner at Grafton on Jacaranda Cup day.

Ellro returns to Grafton on Friday to tackle the Barnes Storm Show Benchmark 58 Handicap (1410m).

“She is a horse that I do have a fair bit of time for,’’ McColm said.

“And she is only going to get better as time goes on.

“She is going to get a bit of ground later on – she is going to be a great miler – and I think that 1400m on Friday is a great stepping stone.

“She is going to be hard to beat.’’

McColm won the 2022 Country Championship Qualifier at Grafton with this year’s Kosciuszko hero Far To Easy and has plans to attack the 2025 series with two of his stable’s rising stars.

“I think Ellro fits pretty well into that mould and I’ve got another horse who fits into it as well called Fairway Choice,’’ he said.

McColm, meanwhile, is naturally eager to see what his handsome first starter Olivershare can deliver when he makes his debut in the Westlawn Finance Country Boosted Maiden Plate (1106m).

Trainer David McColm has two runners at Grafton he is setting for the Country Championship series next year. Picture: Grant Guy

The son of Overshare left a positive impression when finishing a close third in his one and only public hitout at Deagon over the border late last month.

“I thought it was a nice trial,’’ McColm said.

“I think he is a horse with a little bit of upside. I like him.

“I do believe that he is probably six months away from being that furnished horse but he is going to develop into a nice, big, strong horse.

“He’s drawn well and I anticipate he will run a nice race.’’

Win, lose or draw, Olivershare looks a bargain at $12,00.

His lowly price-tag at the 2023 Magic Millions March Yearling sale belies his golden pedigree.

For the record, Olivershare’s third dam is a sister to Tommy Smith’s 1987 Golden Slipper winner Star Watch.

McColm is naturally hoping for a much better outcome for the former Danny Williams-trained gelding Preemptory at Grafton as compared to his first run under the new management where and when he finished last as a heavily backed favourite in the Jacaranda Cup.

“On face value he was a little bit disappointing but there’s a couple of things that he loves and one of them is a wet track so he gets that on Friday,’’ McColm said.

“I think he is a horse that is just going to take a couple runs to reach his peak but that track on Friday will suit him down to the ground.’’

Orange preview: Future looks Rosy for Caitlin

Canberra-based apprentice Caitlin Sinclair will head way out west on Friday with a red-hot chance of riding her second winner having given herself a Five Diamonds day to remember for a lifetime.

It was Saturday November 9 at Goulburn when Sinclair booted home her first winner, Rosy Sue, the daughter of 2017 ATC Provincial Championship Final winner, Maryore.

No one was prouder of the young hoop than her current master Norm Gardner who has handed her the choice ride on Gatchan at Orange on Thursday.

“For a young girl that has only had a handful of rides, she thinks in her races and she looks really good, she stays balanced and doesn’t panic when things are going wrong,’’ Gardner said.

“I think she will make the grade.’’

Sinclair almost posted a double at Goulburn 13 days ago only to miss out by a narrow margin aboard the aforementioned barnstormer Gatchan whose Friday mission is the Pirtek Grange Benchmark 66 Handicap (2100m).

“She is a lovely little mare,’’ Gardner said.

“There is not much of her but it just seems like she will stay all day.’’

Gatchan has a future beyond the racetrack, given her epic pedigree.

For starters, she is out of a Galileo mare while her fourth dam is Who Can Say, also known as the mother of Bounding Away and Metrop winner, Glastonbury.

Gardner, meanwhile, has ambitions of book-ending the Orange card via Extremely Exciting in the opener and another home-bred Devine Miss in the closer.

Extremely Exciting is a $21 outsider in the CNW Electrical Country Boosted Maiden Plate (1200m) but has more spark to her than that according to her trainer.

“She is a little filly that has got no confidence in herself but with a lot of ability,’’ he said.

“She’d be a good chance there.’’

Devine Miss, meanwhile, is rated an $8 chance to win a hotly-contested Benchmark 82 sprint to wind-up proceedings on Friday.

“She is a lovely mare,’’ Gardner said.

“This will be the first time in a long while she has had a senior rider on her.

“She is going very well but she just needs a soft run and that’s what she should get, midfield with a bit of speed on and she usually hits the line.

“She will be hard to beat in that.’’

Originally published as Grafton preview: David McColm confident Ellro can make it two in a row