Arnott steers Katespur to break maiden status at Fannie Bay

SOMETIMES jockeys make race riding look easy and that was the case with Felicia Bergstrand in the opening race at Fannie Bay.

Vanessa Arnott brings Katespur back to scale. Picture: JUSTIN SANSON

SOMETIMES jockeys make race riding look easy and that was the case with Felicia Bergstrand in the opening race at Fannie Bay yesterday.

Bergstrand and race favourite Rules of Engagement trailed the six-horse field for half of the race after missing the kick. But as the five-year-old mare rounded the home turn, Bergstrand found a gap and they went for it.

The winning margin was three-and-a-half lengths with Hamish Boy (Richie Oakford) second, three-and-three-quarter lengths ahead of Mudslide (Rian Mageean).

“She did it way too easy and I definitely think that is her distance (1300m),” Bergstrand said.

PATIENCE does have its rewards as the trainer and connections of Umfazi discovered in race two yesterday..

The David Bates-trained Umfazi (Craig Lloyd) had not raced for 420 days and was still a maiden after four starts.

But all that changed yesterday when the four-year-old mare left her five rivals behind to easily beat another Darwin first starter, the Melinda Boothby-trained Apala (Richie Oakford) with Coolbie (Bergstrand) third.

Bates was delighted that the long wait was over for Umfazi and her connections.

“I bought her 12 months ago and I thought she was an exceptional buy. The best maiden I had bought in my life,” he said. “But we have just had so many problems with her but full credit to the owners. They just persevered … and had so much faith in her and now you see the end result.”

THE members of the Women in Thoroughbred Racing syndicates had plenty to cheer about when Katespur held on to break her maiden status in race three.

The three-year-old filly, trained by Jason Manning and ridden by Vanessa Arnott, proved too strong to hold off the fast-finishing Braeburn Park (Brendon Davis) with Top of the World (Felicia Bergstrand) third.

Rival trainer Chris Pollard had four runners in the race but they were unable to catch the runaway leader.

But in the next race, Pollard’s Lunch Mates held off Night Option to win by a half neck with another Pollard ­runner Set for a Bundle third.

Cheville does it in style

ALANA Brown enjoyed a 100 per cent success rate at Fannie Bay yesterday when her only ride saluted in the last.

And what a win it was for the Stephen Brown-trained Cheville, who returned from 10-week spell in emphatic style to score a four and three-quarter length win, easing down in the Shaw and Smyth TC Handicap over 1300m.

The six-year-old gelding collected his sixth career win from 24 starts in effortless fashion, hitting the front down the back-straight and putting several lengths on his rivals as he headed for home.

The Gary Clarke-trained Emvoss (Paul Shiers) was second, four and three-quarters lengths behind, while Brown’s other runner in the last, Powlett (Wayne Davis) ran third.

Davis came in for special praise from Brown for “holding the fort” at Fannie Bay while she was away in Melbourne. “Big thanks to Wayne (Davis). We just back from Melbourne this morning so a big credit to him,” Brown said.

She believes Cheville has a bright future.

“When you’ve got him right I don’t think much is going to beat him,” she said. “He tries really hard. Hopefully we can just put him away now and get him ready for a couple of nice feature races over Carnival.”