Sport
31 July, 2024
Trainers share the spoils at Julia Creek race meeting
Five trainers tasted success at the non-TAB program.
Five trainers tasted success at Julia Creek Turf Club’s five-race meeting on Saturday, with four North West horses picking up important cheques.
Local trainers Tanya Parry and Kerry Krogh both tasted success, while Mount Isa trainer Denise Ballard and Richmond’s Shryn Royes also returned home with a winner.
Ballard and husband Keith combined in the Benchmark 50 Handicap (1100m) when Mister Moderation won his third race of the year.
The three-year-old, who turns four today, broke his maiden in Julia Creek in April and backed it up with another at Gregory in May, but hasn’t been seen since a fifth placing at Mount Isa on May 25.
The two-month break paid off as the $2.80 shot beat favourite Hi Zero by three quarters of a length on Saturday.
Parry, who ran second in that race, made amends in the QTIS Maiden Plate (1200m) with a quinella, boosting her stables coffers.
The win of Mr Squiggle’s Mate and the second placing of Lord Kenny earned Parry more than $13,000 once the QTIS bonuses were added under the QTIS scheme.
It was Mr Squiggle’s Mate’s first start for Parry, having made the move to Julia Creek from Mark Hatch’s stable.
He was the outsider in the field as a $12 shot but won impressively with Shae Nielson in the saddle.
There was another upset in the Benchmark 45 Handicap (1350m) when Krogh’s $8 shot Malabar Prince won his first race in the region by a big margin under the urging of Jason Babarovich.
In the final race of the day, Royes claimed the Benchmark 65 (1350m) when Jason Hoopert produced a peach of a ride aboard Golden Eighty ($3.40).