Winning pick-up ride Jagged

Gold Coast-based jockey Jag Guthmann-Chester had a fortunate pick up ride last Wednesday when he rode Greywolf to victory for Toowoomba trainer Ben Currie.

LATE CHANGE: Jag Guthmann-Chester rode Greywolf to a win in the Sirromet Class 5 Handicap (race 4) at Ipswich on Wednesday. Picture: Rob Williams

GOLD COAST-based jockey Jag Guthmann-Chester had a fortunate pick up ride last Wednesday at Ipswich when he rode Greywolf to victory for Toowoomba trainer Ben Currie.

Apprentice Baylee Nothdurft was originally engaged to ride five-year-old Greywolf however could not meet the commitment.

Ben Currie has won the past two Queensland Provincial Training Premierships and is heading in the same direction again with his normal high tally at Toowoomba, and a growing number of wins elsewhere including Ipswich.

The win was Currie's sixth at Ipswich this season and later in the day he was close to a seventh when Jackson Murphy was a late riding engagement aboard L'il Rodge.

L'il Rodge finished a close-up second to the fast-finishing Without Revenge which gave Murwillumbah trainer Matthew Dunn a winning double for the day. Without Revenge was ridden by apprentice Clayton Gallagher after Mark Du Plessis earlier won aboard Dunn's first winner for the day, Green Reign.

Three kilo claiming apprentice Jackson Murphy still had a good day out picking up a winning double on the day.

His winners were for Brisbane trainers Tony Gollan and Chris Anderson with Bright Idea and Bryneich respectively.

Bright Idea took Tony Gollan's season tally to seventeen as he aims up for a fifth consecutive Ipswich Trainer's Premiership. One third of the way through the season, Gollan's current winning rate would see him finish the season with a remarkable, and unheard of tally of 50 winners at Ipswich alone.

Laurie continues Ipswich form

BRISBANE trainer Laurie Mayfield-Smith picked up his third win at Ipswich in a couple of months as Consular collected his maiden race win with Taylor Marshall aboard.

Consular had placed in his previous five starts south of the border at tracks like Murwillumbah, Ballina, Gunnedah, and Quirindi.

The win at Ipswich gave Mayfield-Smith a near 100 per cent strike rate at Ipswich in recent months as his stable only numbers six in work currently as he later explained.

Based on this current strike rate, expect to see Laurie back at Ipswich in the near future for suitable races.

Other top Brisbane trainers to win at Ipswich last week were Robert Heathcote and Steve O'Dea, both of whom have stables firing at the moment. Heathcote's winner was the Dale Smith-ridden Plitvice, and O'Dea won with Silverlink with Ryan Maloney in the saddle.

Ipswich Infrastructure Project continues

THE IPSWICH Turf Club Infrastructure Project continues with full demolition of old buildings expected to be completed prior to Christmas.

This will allow a strong run at construction early in the new year in a bid to complete the full works prior to Ipswich Cup Day.

The latest indication from Racing Queensland who are managing the project, is that the major building will still be completed by June for the running of the Ipswich Cup on June 15.

Whilst the running of the famous and historic race day is in no doubt, the ITC is putting contingencies in place for the possibility of a delay in construction due to wet weather or other reasons.

The Ipswich Cup packages will be released early in 2019.

Originally published as Winning pick-up ride Jagged