Sport
9 April, 2025
Mount Isa trainer thrilled to land first treble
Emma Morton was still buzzing after her milestone on Sunday afternoon.
Twenty-four hours after her biggest day on a racetrack, Emma Morton was still on cloud nine.
The Mount Isa trainer still had a big smile after landing her first treble on the seven-race program at Buchanan Park on Sunday.
“You’re always hopeful but you’re never over confident,” said Morton.
“They were probably a little bit short gallop-wise, but we just kept the slow work into them to keep them fit. That’s probably what has made the difference.”
Like most trainers at the Mount Isa meeting, it was a struggle to get horses worked with wet weather impacting tracks.
Morton said walking the horses was the only way to keep her small team exercised when Buchanan Park was closed for several days.
The treble started with honest galloper Philadelphia Free, who picked up another winners’ cheque in the Benchmark 50 (900m).
Jockey James Baker was able to cut the corner rounding the home straight to save ground, narrowly defeating Ohmikkiusofine.
Forty minutes later and Morton was back in the enclosure after Welloutofreach finally ended his drought in the North West.
It was his ninth run for Morton and he’d been a bridesmaid in his last two runs, only for the seven-year-old gelding to find his best form in the Benchmark 65 (900m) and blow his rivals away by more than three lengths.
“He’s been knocking on the door for a while,” the trainer said.
“This is the first win he’s had for us, so it was very welcome.
“He’s had a couple of little niggles but he’s been unlucky.
“In a few races he’s just found one better on the day. The other day they’ve blitzed the field by a long way but he still got beat.”
The treble came with arguably Morton’s best horse, although it was also his first win in the region.
Casino Lord gave Just Stop It and Mr Metrics a big head start in the Open Handicap (1200m), but overcame the margin and his big weight to mow them down in the closing stages.
“It was nerve-wracking watching when they were spread as far as they were but he certainly had a good turn of foot,” said Morton.
Casino Lord was purchased with the $200,000 Battle of the Bush race in mind, but he’s unlikely to contest the Brisbane final this year after Racing Queensland moved the goalposts at the last minute.
“That’s off the cards now because there’s just not enough meetings between now and the qualifier (to get Casino Lord qualified with seven country starts),” she said.
“We lost two of the plate races due to rain – one here in Mount Isa and one in Winton. We were on track for the one here until it got washed out and we thought they might have counted that as a qualifying start, but it wasn’t to be.
“It’s frustrating, especially when you’ve purchased the horse with that race in mind. It would have been great to have shot with the big fellas in Brisbane, but I guess there is always next year.”
Mount Isa will stage another race meeting this Saturday.