Clarence River comes alive with winter racing on display

Its prelude race card highlighting with the Grafton Cup Prelude and John Carlton Cup sprint, both winners gaining automatic entry into its heralded Grafton Cup and Ramornie Handicap respectively. 

The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott prepared Sedanzer may try to add to her recent cache of cup wins with a start in the Listed $160,000 Grafton Cup over 2300 metres to be held next Thursday (July 12). 

A four-year-old mare by Widden Stud’s ace sire, Sebring, Sedanzer won the Brisbane Cup-G2 (now only over 2200 metres) at her previous start and won the Scone Cup-LR (1600 metres) three starts back.

Next Wednesday (July 11) the time honoured Ramornie Handicap-LR will feature, the 1200 metres sprint which dates back to 1910. 

Scone conditioner Rod Northam, was the previous country trainer to prepare a Ramornie Handicap winner when Big Money won in 2014, while Taree’s Ross Stitt trained the memorable million-dollar earner Youthful Jack to win it the previous year. 

Both these winners were ridden by champion Cessnock based legendary hoop Robbie Thompson, who is sure to have rides during the Grafton carnival. 

Another feature Grafton meet is scheduled for this Sunday underlined by the $50,000 South Grafton Cup, while the Maclean Bowling Club Maclean Cup day concludes the carnival the following Sunday July 15. 

IF I am not attending a race meeting on a Saturday and I am at home, I have Foxtel channel Sky Racing 1 on while I am doing some inside jobs – whether domestic or editorial/advertising writing in my office.  

I like to keep an eye on all tracks racing that day whether it being a city meet or a bush circuit for example Narrandera in south-western NSW or maybe Dalby in Queensland.  

But I get so “ticked-off” with the channel when at the last few minutes or seconds, the country meet gets switched to the Sky Racing 2 channel which I do not have. 

Have you also experienced an episode like that?

For some time Foxtel subscribers have had to pay extra for the “Sports” channel and which includes horse racing (Sky Racing 1 and Sky Thoroughbred Central) but not Sky Racing 2.  

Sky Racing 2 is basically an over flow channel for Sky Racing 1, where they “bump” usually country races over to for various reasons including races running late. 

So I get very annoyed if a particular country race is switched, and which seems an injustice to that country meet.   

It is not so much the $5 extra payment per month to add Sky Racing 2 onto my Foxtel subscription that I object to, it is the principal. 

Why should I pay this extra amount per month while I already pay extra for the singled out “sports” channel.  Is not Sky Racing 2 a sports channel? 

According to Telstra, Sky Racing 2 is a “speciality channel”, hmmm.

Not to mention all the ads that fail to entertain us – the majority of them we do not want to watch but have crept into the life of Foxtel and which originally prided itself as being “ad free” umpteen years ago.

FOLLOWING four placings from his first four starts, it was good to see Mandalong Nicko win his maiden victory at Wyong last week.  

Bred and raced by Sydney cattle entrepreneur Ric Pisaturo, Mandalong Nicko is by little known chestnut stallion Great Hall, a son of former Godolphin shuttle stallion Elusive Quality (by Mr Prospector’s Gone West), who found limited Australian stud success after six Australian seasons. 

However Elusive Quality did sire Godolphin’s outstanding Australian bred filly Camarilla and her close relation and champion Australian two and three-year-old colt Sepoy, who remains on the Godolphin sires’ roster at Northwood Park, Seymour, Victoria.  Sepoy’s Australian star stakes winning filly is Alizee. 

Great Hall has only been sparingly used on a Camden district property west of Sydney, serving two mares in 2017, with a total of 18 mares covered over intermittent seasons since 2011.  

Unraced, Great Hall is a half-brother to memorable and brilliant dual Group 1 winning mare Regimental Gal. 

The win of Mandalong Nicko – who is trained at Warwick Farm by Gary Nickson, makes it two winners for the sire, with his current three-year-old colt sure to expand his successful race record. 

WHILE he may have been prepared by Aidan O’Brien in Ireland for his majority Coolmore Stud owners, Australian bred Merchant Navy won the prestigious Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in England last week. 

Bred by Chris and Jane Barham of Toowoomba, the three-year-old colt is now set to continue the sireline of his champion Australian sire Fastnet Rock when he joins Coolmore Stud’s sire roster at Jerrys Plains this year. 

Merchant Navy joins other Australian bred gallopers to have won a major at the Royal Ascot carnival in recent times including Choisir, Starspangledbanner, Haradasun, Miss Andretti, Black Caviar, Takeover Target, and Scenic Blast.