Grafton preview: Profitable pairing on the hunt for more winners

Trainer Noel Mayfield-Smith and apprentice jockey Mollie Fitzgerald can add to their incredible 27.3 winning strike rate when they combine – twice – at Grafton on Monday.

Mollie Fitzgerald can add to her amd Noel Mayfield-Smith’s growing tally of winners of Monday at Grafton

ONE of the Northern Rivers region’s most dynamic trainer and jockey duos can add two more wins to their rapidly rising tally at Grafton on Monday.

Multiple Group 1-winning trainer Noel Mayfield-Smith and Taree-based apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald boast an uncommonly high 27.3 per cent winning strike-rate which catapults to 57.3 per cent when placings are added.

The pair are most certainly the form pairing this season with some astonishing returns.

For the record, Fitzgerald’s last 13 rides for Mayfield-Smith include five winners and five placegetters.

Two of those five winners, De Forza and Monte Kahuna, are both in action at Grafton on Monday.

First to go is the lightly-raced and progressive type De Forza who steps out for just his third race start in today’s Tectonic Plate For The Kosciuszko Country Boosted Benchmark 58 Handicap (1015m).

A grandson of Kingman, De Forza was a close and brave runner-up on debut at home at Coffs Harbour on August 2 prior to a close but an even braver win at Grafton 18-days later.

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“He sat three-deep and with all the rain that we had, we were a little bit short on work so it was an even better effort,’’ Mayfield-Smith said.

“It was just such a tough run that I gave him a bit extra time being a young horse but he got over it pretty quickly.

“He has drawn a bit awkward and the rail is out five metres which makes it a bit difficult but I thought with the exception of perhaps one (Lady Tulessa) there wasn’t a real lot in the race on Monday.’’

Where and when De Forza goes after his Grafton run remains to be seen but the future is bright.

“He is quite a nice colt actually,” Mayfield-Smith said.

“His runs have been well-spaced. I just let them roll along and see how they’re handling it and we work it out from there.’’

De Forza can claim direct descendancy to one of Australia’s best ever fillies and mares via his fifth dam, Toyland, whose mating with Showdown resulted in 1975 Golden Slipper winner, Toy Show.

De Forza only needed two runs to shed his maiden status whereas his Grafton-bound stablemate Monte Kahuna required 16.

Even so, no one is holding that against him, least of all his trainer.

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“If you saw him when we first got him to what he looks like now, you wouldn’t think he is the same horse,’’ he said.

“He was sort of bits and pieces. He is a So You Think and they just need that little bit of extra time.

“He wasn’t the brightest beacon in the harbour so he had to do plenty of racing for him to fathom out what it was all about.’’

It may have been a while coming but Monte Kahuna’s breakthrough win at Tuncurry last month in the 2106m maiden was emphatic.

“For me it was the first time he ran like a horse that actually stays in that he didn’t wobble around and get into strife and want to over-race,’’ Mayfield-Smith said.

“So I thought it was very good from that point of view and he goes exceptionally well for Mollie.’’

Mayfield-Smith says the extra furlong on Monday “won’t be a worry for Monte Kahuna” and nor should it be given his pedigree.

His father So You Think’s 10 Group 1 wins came from 1800m to 2100m.

On top of that, Monte Kahuna is blessed with a 4 X 4 doublecross of the immortal Nijinsky.

Originally published as Grafton preview: Profitable pairing on the hunt for more winners