MOMENTUM IS BUILDING AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE START OF THE GRAFTON JULY RACING CARNIVAL

By Michael Beattie | Tuesday, June 11, 2019

In the second of his series of articles leading into the upcoming Clarence River Jockey Club July Carnival, club CEO Michael Beattie puts the Grafton club’s case as to why one of the headline horses of the weekend should consider tackling the Ramornie; he confirms that the all-conquering blue army of Godolphin will be at the carnival and he is confident the is a current depth in the staying ranks augers well for the quality of the Grafton Cup field.

“We are really looking forward to the start of the Clarence River Jockey Club July Carnival at Grafton which kicks off on June 30.

“It was great to see one of the likely Ramornie contenders in Victorem win at Listed level again on the weekend although whether he actually comes to Grafton is arguable, I suppose. It might be a long shot.

“I know that the connections are keen to go to the Glasshouse but I would be inclined to think that Grafton is the better option simply because the long range goal for Victorem is, quite understandably, the $1.3 million Kosciuszko and we proved last year that the best lead-up into the Kosciuszko was Grafton with the Kosciuszko winner Belflyer having finished second in the Ramornie.

“There were a number of other runners coming out of that Ramornie that went into the Kosciuszko. The trick when any horse wins a 1400m race, of course, is whether people then see them as genuine sprinters and want them as their Kosciuszko horse whereas if Victorem can win the Ramornie there will certainly be a lot of suiters for him.**

“Yes, I am trying to put a good case for Victorem to come to the Ramornie but I really think in years to come, given the fact that the Kosciuszko is a race restricted to NSW trained country horses and also taking into account the timeline from the Ramornie through to the Kosciuszko … I think it genuinely will be that feature race in country New South Wales where people will put their toe in the water for Kosciuszko selection.

“People notice the performance of horses in the Ramornie. I don’t think there can be any doubt about that. The same can be said for the Grafton Cup. I would also hope that, now that we have put so much money into the Guineas … with it being an $80 000 race … that its profile will continue to rise.

“The Guineas at Grafton is beautifully placed now. It’s now twelve days after the Sunshine Coast Guineas so if you are not able to win there … I wouldn’t expect that we would get the winner to our race … but for someone who has had a crack and missed out, what a great second option.

“As far as the Grafton Cup is concerned, I am extremely buoyed by number of staying horses that are obviously in work in Queensland and New South Wales at the moment with full fields going around in the last Cup race in Sydney and going around in the Brisbane Cup at the weekend.

“It means we have got depth in our staying ranks and clearly we will need that because we have still got the Ipswich Cup and the Caloundra Cup to be run but a lot of the time, at this time of the year, you are looking at lead-up races with eight to ten runners … and we are well past that number.

“So, from that aspect, in terms of the possible availability of runners in the build-up to the Cup, I am extremely pleased.

“We have had numerous enquiries about availability of stables for the carnival. At the moment it tends to be the bigger country trainers that have already spoken to us and confirmed some stabling, but I had a discussion last Friday with Darren Beadman from Godolphin.

“They have confirmed that they are coming to Grafton for the carnival again. It will be great to have them back. They have been successful in the big races before and it would be great if they had some success at Grafton again.

“I also had a good discussion with Greg Hickman. He has been to our carnival many times before. He will be taking a slightly different approach this time because he has just opened a satellite stable at the Gold Coast and he has indicated his Grafton runners will come via his Gold Coast stable.

“So, it’s been a great start to the carnival interest-wise. We are still some way out from the day one of the carnival but people have already been making sure they have got things in place.

“Things are looking good and we really couldn’t really ask for anything more at this stage of proceedings.”

**The Kosciuszko, a 1200m race worth $1.3 million, has particular race eligibility conditions outside the norm. The twelve runners who will face the starter will be nominated by the twelve prize winners (Slot Holders) of The Kosciuszko Sweep Promotion competition who, as slot holders, will be entitled to enter a horse of their choice in the race. Final Declarations are made by the Slot Holders or their nominated representatives, based on an acknowledged agreement between relevant parties.

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