A FIRST VISIT TO MACKAY. A FIRST WINNER AT MACKAY

By Graham Potter | Friday, July 1, 2022

A first visit to MacKay. A first winner at MacKay.

That was the story as it was ‘boxed ticked’ for Jasmine Cornish as she added yet another track to the list of venues where she has saluted, doing so in her very first visit to Mackay … on her very first ride at the track … on July 1.

Cornish’s winner came in the form of a pick-up ride aboard the Liam Birchley trained Real Tidy in a Maiden Handicap over 1100m. She thus continued her habit of announcing her presence with an early winner when riding at a new racing precinct … which is no mean feat in itself.

Real Tidy is a very lightly raced four-year-old who had hardly set the town alight before this run. In fact, she finished unplaced in all four of her previous starts, but they all came in the period between September 11 and October 20 in 2021 … and she came into the race at Mackay as the fresh horse resuming after a full eight months away from race action, a expected plus which helped see her installed as a close-up $3.60 second favourite behind Cooeebaymagic ($3.40).

Cornish got Real Tidy away well and was able to cross to the rail. The mare led briefly, but Cornish then let the speed go around her as Que Cee Spade ($13) burst to the front, intent on leading, and the favourite Cooeebaymagic went with that one.

Cooeebaymagic took over the lead in the approach to the home turn, at which stage Cornish and Real Tidy had two lengths to make up on the main fancy and, when Cooeebaymagic left the fence on cornering, the gap was there for Real Tidy to give chase into clear air and take the shortest way home.

Cooeebaymagic did kick on in the early part of the straight but, Real Tidy, under a carefully measured ride by Cornish, was travelling the better of the two and the Birchley trained runner had the measure of Cooeebaymagic as early as the 200m mark.

It was comfortable run to the line from there for Real Tidy who extended her winning advantage over the concluding stages,without any fuss at all, to win by a clearcut 2.50 length margin from Cooeebaymagic.

The fact that there was a further four lengths back to the third placed runner underlines the level of superiority that Real Tidy enjoyed on the day.

Jasmine Cornish