Tuncurry previews: Trainer Terry Evans hopes a change of base and a handy Taree trial can lift outsider Miss Joy
Tuncurry master Terry Evans is hooping a sea change might bring out the best in Sir Ravanelli’s half-sister Miss Jiy when she make her new stable debut at Tuncurry.
Local hero Sir Ravanelli’s sibling Miss Joy will have her first run as a Tuncurry resident as the $151 outsider of the field.
While trainer Terry Evans’ beloved grey Sir Ravanelli has won nine races including the seaside town’s MNC Country Championship Qualifier in 2023, Miss Joy has been underwhelming at best in her two starts to date.
For the record, she beat two home on debut at Hawkesbury on September 25 prior to her 12 length last in a Kembla Maiden 18 days later.
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“Mark Fraser-Campin bought her over from New Zealand and gave her to Brad Widdup and they thought she was going OK,” Evans explained.
“She had one nice trial but she’s done nothing in her races so Mark sent her up to see if we could change it round a bit.
“She didn’t trial too bad at Taree the other day, she got out the back and ran on a little bit but she is still very immature I think.”
Evans, meanwhile, will saddle-up another intriguing runner at home, namely Petroglyph.
A son of the Australian Guineas winner Wandjina, Petroglyph has the unwanted distinction of not one but two DNF’s (did not finish) inside just half a dozen starts.
The $20,000 Inglis Classic Yearling put on the proverbial buckjumping display soon after the start of his Taree Class 1 assignments on January 7 and again on March 17.
“It’s happened both times at Taree so we’re obviously not going back to Taree,” Evans quipped.
“The second time he did it at Taree, I thought it was more a case of that a horse may have frightened him, coming across behind him but how would you know, it could be any reason.”
Thankfully, the only thing Petroglyph seems to be bucking at present is his brand off, judging by a couple of impressive trials in the lead-up to the Sails Accommodation Handicap (1000m).
“He can gallop,” Evans said.
“We would rather have drawn closer in but there may be a few scratchings to bring us in a little bit instead of being the outside gate.”
The ‘feature’ at Tuncurry is the Solaris Golden Mile Benchmark 82 Handicap (1600m) where
My Pepperjack wins at double figure odds in the 7th at Taree! 💰 pic.twitter.com/dzWBgwZNHd
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 15, 2025
Evans is ably represented by The Young Years whose talent and penchant for her home tried is belied by her $26 TAB quote.
“She’s racing well enough,” Evans says.
“She has just been unlucky.
“She’s drawn barrier four on Monday but it’s best riding her nice and quiet, out the back, and then head up the middle of the track hopefully.
“She races well at Tuncurry. She knows where to take off from and hopefully where to finish.”
The Young Years has only managed two wins from her 28 starts together with six placings.
Like most horses, Evans’ Kiwi-bred mare’s performances are often dictated by outside factors like tempo, timing, clear running and the like.
“You can’t change her racing pattern,” Evans said.
“I think she is better off ridden cold and then try and get home. She is always going to be getting beat a length or a nose, that’s if she doesn’t win.”
Evans, meanwhile, will take the opportunity of a hometown meeting to debut his stunningly well-bred three-year-old colt Sacred Icon who steps out in the KBI Designs Maiden Handicap (1300m) at $126.
“He’s by Pierro and is going to get over 2000m or further,” his trainer said.
“He is still a colt and we want to give him a run and then geld him and tip him out.”
Born and raised at Coolmore, Sacred Icon, is the first foal of the Tasmanian Listed placegetter and Fastnet Rock mare Sacred Valley and blessed with a double-cross of Sadler’s Wells.
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Mudgee trainer Toby Pracey plans to be at Royal Randwick on Ingham Day with a Highway hopeful in Onyspeed.
He’ll start the week closer to home at Dubbo where he saddles-up Onyspeed’s half-sister Quick Onyx as well as a lightly-raced mare he owns with his mother, the former trainer, Joan Pracey.
The mare in question is called Just Joan, but very nearly wasn’t as Toby Pracey explained.
“I wanted to call it Rabbit because its’ stable name is Rabbit but my mother said I wasn’t allowed to call it Rabbit,” Pracey said.
“Jake (Pracey-Holmes) was here having a barbecue one night and he said, I know what we’re going to call it, and I said what’s that, and he said Just Joan.
“He rang my mother and said this is what we’re going to call it and she put it down as the one of the first choices and we ended up getting it.”
Annyanme holds on to break her maiden in the first from Wellington! pic.twitter.com/sRhYtiJaWY
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 12, 2024
It seems only fair that the daughter of Our Royal Egyptian is named after Joan Pracey given she bought the mare.
“I sale-prepped he (Just Joan) for another bloke down the road and I liked the horse as it was coming through,” Pracey explained.
“It went up on an online sale and Mum asked how much do you want to pay for it and I said, throw $1,500 at her and we might get her, if it goes for any more than that then just let it go.
“And she told me that afternoon that we’d bought her for $3,000 so Mum took half a share in it and I kept the other half.”
As it stands ahead of the Civic IPN Country Boosted Maiden Plate (1000m), Just Joan has won just shy of $30,000 thanks to four placings in her 12 starts.
“She has been going alright,” Pracey says.
“But she is just a bit of a bull-headed thing where she just likes to do everything a million miles an hour.
“She has come back a lot better this time.”
A favourable draw and a relatively lightweight could be the keys to victory the Dennis Hanley-bred, Pracey-trained Quick Onyx in the Benchmark 58 Handicap (1000m).
“She doesn’t have the best legs and she’s a pretty good doer, so you have to race her into fitness but once she’s there, you can back off her and just keep her fresh and that’s how she runs best,” says Pracey.
Originally published as Tuncurry previews: Trainer Terry Evans hopes a change of base and a handy Taree trial can lift outsider Miss Joy
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