River Racer breathes life into concept to get juveniles to take on older horses

RIVER Racer paved the way for trainers to aim juveniles against older rivals when she took out the 2&3YO Plate at Doomben on Saturday.

Trainer Les Ross with River Racer after beating the older horses at Doomben on Saturday. Picture: Natasha Wood, Trackside Photography

RIVER Racer paved the way for trainers to aim juveniles against older rivals when she took out the 2&3YO Plate at Doomben on Saturday.

Les Ross was the only trainer to take on the older horses and he came up trumps.

The event came in for criticism pre-race because it only attracted one two-year-old.

MONDAY REWIND: QUEENSLAND

I like the concept, but it needs tinkering.

Even though River Racer was able to overcome it, two-year-olds were harshly treated, only getting 3kg from the three-year-olds. That turned most trainers off.

South Australia’s equivalent, the Lightning (Dermody) Stakes was also run on Saturday. The two-year-olds are afforded a 5kg weight pull there, which has produced some top-class winners over the years.

Racing Queensland could turn our event into an end-of-season feature as well.

Throw a few extra dollars at it (thus making it more appealing than the safety of the two-year-old race on the same day), fix the weight discrepancy and you are sure to get more trainers willing to have a crack.

It could even be turned into a series by allocating points to the two and three-year-old races in the three weeks leading up to it and having the two age groups collide in the feature event on the last day of the season.

STAR STALLION JUST SHORT OF MARK

QUEENSLAND-based stallion Love Conquers All has fallen a few dollars short of claiming Australia’s First Season Sire honours.

Going into Sunday’s final day of the season, Love Conquers All was just $330 short of Arrowfield’s Smart Missile, despite having less than half the runners of that horse.

The son of Mossman has had eight winners from 22 runners, putting him ahead of higher profile and more represented stallions like Sepoy, Foxwedge and Helmet.

Love Conquers All stands at Sun Stud off a fee of $13,750.

Originally published as River Racer breathes life into concept to get juveniles to take on older horses