Horse of the Year HEY BLONDIE takes a bow!

The Bunbury season finished on Wednesday, with Peter winning the Trainer of the Year Award for the 13th time in the last 15 years. His total of 14 Bunbury race wins for the year put him a clear 6 wins ahead of his closest rival, Neville Parnham.

The Horse of the Year competition was a very exciting affair, with two of our horses, HEY BLONDIE and LE SACRE in the top three!

The final result came down to the 8th race of the last day, with HEY BLONDIE having to finish in the first three to beat her rival Amama to the title.

The Royal Academy mare did not let the team down, and after a brave run she managed to finish 3rd to gain that all-important point.

HEY BLONDIE’s season record of three wins, two 2nds and two 3rds is testimony to her toughness, and to Peter’s training skill in keeping her going. Her owners the Lindsay family are rightly very proud of their home-bred mare, and she will be a terrific breeding prospect for them later on.

Troy Turner rode a very patient race on the Blackfriars gelding, settling him well off the pace behind the pacemaker Inok. On the home turn the field bunched; Troy moved BLACK BLAST smoothly into contention, and the horse responded well, sprinting past his rivals to win by an easy 1 1/4 lengths.

Peter was delighted with BLACK BLAST’s performance, and predicts a good prep for this well-bred 5 year old gelding.

The SCOPACIRI gelding was bred by Peter from his Metro-winning mare Dauwin, and is one of a number of SCOPACIRI’s first crop of foals which have shown early promise in trials and races.

Breeders interested in using SCOPACIRI should contact Peter direct for bookings for the forthcoming breeding season.

This 7 year old gelding had probably been the stable’s most frustrating horse, as he had not won for three years since coming from over East, but had shown ability with a number of places in town.

OTTUMWA, not surprisingly, was not fancied in the betting for the ATA Handicap over  1690 metres. Jockey Peter Hall settled the horse at the rear of the field and then gently urged him forward to join the leaders in the home straight. OTTUMWA travelled into the race very easily but, once he was asked to beat Dr Ava, it took all of Peter Hall’s experience to succeed by the narrowest margin of a nose.

It was super for the owners that their patience had been rewarded after all this time, and let’s hope OTTUMWA has now got the winning habit!

]]> http://www.giadrescoracing.com.au/ottumwa-at-last/feed 0 http://www.giadrescoracing.com.au/louisiana-lady-returns-with-a-bang http://www.giadrescoracing.com.au/louisiana-lady-returns-with-a-bang#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:00:51 +0000 Andy http://www.giadrescoracing.com.au/?p=818 On Sunday 19th February we had two runners at Pinjarra Park, and both performed very well.

In the Barbara Dent Handicap over 1400 metres RAGTRADER ran another terrific race to finish 3rd, beaten under a length behind the well regarded Pharinfront.

Our second runner LOUISIANA LADY was favourite for the Ideas in Furniture Handicap over 1200 metres, and didn’t let her backers down. Resuming from a spell, the mare looked magnificent, and under a typical cool ride from Peter Hall, she quickened impressively off the home turn and won by an effortless 1 3/4 lengths from the second favourite Town Champion.

LOUISIANA LADY looks to have come back from her break in fine fettle and should have a very good prep.

WATERMANS BAY, under the steadier of 59.5 kilos, ran a super race in the budget.com.au Handicap over  1200 metres, only being collared by the lightly-weighted Classic Emblem near the line.

DU PRINTEMPS was even more unlucky in the Budget Minibus Rental Handicap over 1000 metres, as he was beaten by only a long neck despite suffering interference from the eventual winner Lee Rani. Both WATERMANS BAY and DU PRINTEMPS did owner-breeders John and Sharon Molloy proud, and will not doubt win again in town soon.

The highlight of the day was the performance of the lightly-raced 3 year old FULL REIGN in the feature race, the Listed $80,000 Budget Challenge Stakes. This well-bred Blackfriars gelding was having only his third ever start, so not surprisingly he was unfancied in a hot field. Jockey Shaun O’Donnell rode the perfect race, settling FULL REIGN in 5th position just behind the leaders, before making a well-timed run to win by a cosy 3/4 length from the fast-finishing Pop Culture.

Everyone connected with the horse was very excited, as he is an outstanding prospect going forward to the Derby in the autumn. Owners Sophie and Serge Madrigali deserve this success, as they put so much into racing, often with little reward.

Peter, who purchased FULL REIGN at the 2010 Magic Millions yearling sale, has a great record in the Challenge Stakes, as this was his third win in the race, the last being RAISE A CALL in 2006.

The State City gelding had been a perpetual place-getter in better class fields, so not surprisingly he was made an odds-on favourite in this race.

SATELLITE CITY jumped well for jockey Glenn Smith, and settled in 2nd place behind the pace-making Chez Joey. After climbing the hill, Glenn drove the gelding to the front and kept SATELLITE CITY up to his work right to the line, to win by 4 lengths.

Peter was delighted to finally get this talented, but very frustrating, horse to win, albeit in a Narrogin maiden!!

The flashy-looking filly put in a most pleasing performance to finish 4th behind the much-vaunted Looking Ahead. Jockey William Pike was impressed by ELITE SCOPE’s run, and said after the race that she should be an early winner. She displays all the toughness of her sire SCOPACIRI, as this is her first prep, and she has gone right through to racing on a Saturday.

The performances of the 2 year olds in trials so far show that SCOPACIRI throws early types, blessed with plenty of speed, which should appeal to all breeders.

The race attracted its usual good class field, and the stable was represented by LE SACRE, who was aiming at a quartet of consecutive wins.

Miss Dandy, the favourite, set off to make all, and still led entering the home straight. LE SACRE, meanwhile, had been settled mid field by Troy Turner.

Many horses had chances in the home straight, but Troy brought LE SACRE down the outside with a storming run, and they swept home to win by a length from Go Buster and Shawaim.

This was another amazing win for LE SACRE, who just keeps stepping up since his Narrogin win four starts ago.

Peter and the family were delighted to win one of Bunbury’s feature races with a horse they now lease.

After this triumph LE SACRE will no doubt race in the City.

The race was run at a cracking pace, so William Pike settled FULL REIGN back in the field.

Hurricane Hound tried to make  all, but William had the race under control well out. He brought FULL REIGN with a strong run down the middle of the track to pick up the leader easily, and won by an effortless 1 1/2 lengths.

William was full of praise for the Blackfriars gelding after the race, and FULL REIGN should now tackle tougher targets.

Mention must be made of RAGTRADER, who ran another honest race in the 1410 metre handicap, but was just beaten under the burden of  59 kgs.