THREE DAYS. THREE MEETINGS. THREE WINNERS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, April 25, 2026

Three days … three meetings … three winners!

That has got a nice ring to it, particularly when those results were achieved from only five runners and there was also a second place result in that mix.

It all represented the further progress being shown by the Willima Kropp stable.

Piston Rebel saluted on April 23 (see separate story) and on April 25 William Kropp landed a two venue training double when Yes I’m Ugly won at Dalby and Playman won at Toowoomba.
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Yes I’m Ugly’s victory came in a BM60 Handicap over 1200m.

Any win is obviously a good result, but when a horse puts back-to-back wins on the board, it adds to the level of satisfaction for connections as the runner’s form-graph is clearly moving in the right direction. Putting any winning sequence together is never an easy thing to do.

Yes I’m Ugly cleared that hurdle winning for the second successive time, again partnered by Stacey Callow, this time winning by the very decisive margin of 2.38 lengths when starting as the second favourite at $3.70.

Yes I’m Ugly had the gate-speed to get across from the worst of the draw (barrier seven out of seven) to get to the front early, before Callow elected to give up the lead and take the trail on Zaripper ($9.50) who was keen to take up the running when offered that option.

Approaching the home turn Callow had Yes I’m Ugly, who had always stayed in close contention, slip up along the inside of Zaripper to regain a lead he was not going to relinquish again as he pulled away from all challengers, maintaining a strong enough gallop all of the way to the line to have the outcome decided long before he crossed the line.

In his last seven starts, Yes I’m Ugly has posted three wins, one runner-up finish and two third places.
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Playman’s win came in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1100m.

As was the case with Yes I’m Ugly landing back-to-back wins, Playman’s victory was also notable … because any horse who wins on debut is worth a second glance. Again, it is not an easy thing to do.

Playman trialled twice in March in the lead-up to his first taste of race action and he faced the starter for the first time as an $8 chance with Fred Larson in the saddle.

The grey son of Territories hesitated slightly at the jump but, with the help of the nunber two barrier draw, Larson was quickly able to push Playman up into a midfield position in a relatively tightly bunched field.

The pair continued to save ground all through the sweep to the home turn. That served its purpose well but, on straightening, it now became a question of whether Larson could track a path into clear running from which Playman could lay down his challenge.

A switch around heels early in the straight got that job half done … before a second more dramatic switch outwards, which Playman almost over-played (remember he was a first-timer) … took Playman into clear running with a gap and the stage to showcase his potential, beckoning.

A grey in full flight is always a sight to behold and Playman stretched out like a seasoned professional, taking the gap in-between runners in a pressurised finish to brush aside all opposition and go on to score by a 1.42 length margin.

It was a pretty impressive performance.
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The horse who finished second during this hot spot of form for the William Kropp stable was Amenophis, who claimed that runner-up finish in a BM70 Handicap over 1000m, also at Toowoomba on April 25.

This was Amenophis’ first run for the William Kropp stable having transferred from the yard of Philip Minter.
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Over the same three days – April 23 to April 25 – trainer Matt Kropp saddled three runners for a return of a second placing with Heroic Delaneys (at Dalby in a BM55 over 1400m) a third place finish with Cryption’s Desire (at Toowoomba in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1700m) and a fourth place with Heroic Beach (at Toowoomba in a Class 3 Handicap over 1890m).

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