Pretty good effort for deserving Ipswich trainer

IPSWICH trainer Allan Doyle was happy with the morning start on Friday as he collected an early Chrissie present in the first race of the day.

LEADING EFFORT: Apprentice Carly Frater-Hill was pleased after riding Pretty Ricky to victory at Friday's Ipswich race meeting. Picture: Rob Williams

TURF CHAT

IPSWICH trainer Allan Doyle was happy with the morning start on Friday as he collected an early Chrissie present in the first race of the day.

Doyle's winner was former maiden galloper Pretty Ricky.

Apprentice jockey Carly Frater-Hill led with him from barrier to box in a smart display.

After four places from five previous career starts, the win was due reward for the galloper and connection's efforts.

Doyle was raised with his siblings including brother Noel at Riverview. He has been training for several decades including the past 14 years at Ipswich.

An added Ipswich flavour is in the ownership of the galloper, which includes Allan's wife Lesley as well as long-term Ipswich Clerk of the Course Sue Smith.

Early start pays off

DESPITE the high temperatures, the final Ipswich race meeting prior to Christmas went off successfully although not on a normal basis.

The high temperatures, which were forecast earlier in the week as reaching 41 degrees, came as expected on Friday.

When these temperatures were initially forecast, Racing Queensland took the step of bringing the races forward to earlier in the day prior to the forecast hottest time of the day.

This meant it was an early 10.25am start with the last race run at 1.42pm.

While this allowed the racing to proceed, there were questions raised by some why the races weren't put back later in the day.

The answer to this was the forecast of the Bureau of Meteorology, which was for the temperatures to peak after the final race had been run. And this is exactly what happened.

Based on the forecast there was insufficient time later in the day to conduct the meeting while temperatures were dropping due to lack of sunlight hours and an absence of lights at Ipswich.

Pleasing track results

THE ongoing Ipswich track improvement project is showing pleasing results as we enter fully into the growing season.

Despite little rain over the past couple of months until last Friday, the track has preformed well with noticeable change from the same time of the past couple of years.

The turf is showing strong and healthy growth and here is more cushion in the track than in recent times. The keys to these results are the opening of root zones and the loosening of the surface to allow healthier plant growth and a cushion in the surface.

The track team is continually working the surface while adding tonnes of sand, a process which is planned to continue for another couple of years.

The improvement, along with ongoing infrastructure developments will relatively soon allow the Ipswich community to have great pride in the Ipswich Turf Club facility.

Season's greetings

MANAGEMENT and staff of the Ipswich Turf Club wish all the best of the festive season for members, patrons, licensees, and owners as another year of racing at historic Ipswich race track winds down.

Next meetings

Ipswich's December racing finishes on Friday. Racing in the new year is ushered in with two Saturday dates - January 5 and 12.

Originally published as Pretty good effort for deserving Ipswich trainer