THE GRAFTON CUP CARNIVAL – WINNO'S FINAL WRAP
By Darren Winningham | Monday, July 16, 2018
HRO’s Darren Winningham has now covered thirty-two successive Grafton Carnivals and he enjoyed each day of the latest five-day festival as much as he has ever done.
The thousands of words Darren has written this year, coupled with again, literally, the thousands of photographs that he has taken over the carnival means that HRO's coverage of the Carnival is second to none.
We, at HRO, know, through the enormous feedback we have had, just how much participants appreciate all the work that has been done. We thank everybody for their kind words.
This is WINNO’s final wrap of The Grafton Carnival 2018.
Well the five-day Clarence River Jockey Club Carnival has come to its end for 2018.
What an event! What an atmosphere with good crowds right across the carnival – especially on Ramornie and Grafton Cup Days – with some real memorable moments.
This is my wrap of some of the highlights and talking points of Grafton Cup Carnival – 2018!
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Let’s start by talking about where the winners came from … I mean, literally, where they came from!
Can you believe that a Country Carnival can attract such a diverse number of trainers from all over Australia and winners can come from their stables!
I’m talking about winners trained by local trainers around the Grafton area, winners from the Central Coast of NSW, the Mid North Coast on NSW, Scone and Newcastle … and others from the Gold Coast, Beaudesert, Brisbane and then even Tasmania and Canberra!
Well done to Chief Executive Officer of the CRJC Michael Beattie for his relentless efforts to lure the best horses, trainers and jockeys that the club can get to this prestigious Carnival each year.
That’s the same Michael Beattie who co-owned a winner on the last day of the Carnival – Choconi trained by Dwayne Schmidt and ridden by Matthew Paget.
Again, congratulations are in order.
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Chris Munce won his third Grafton Cup … and most notably his first as a trainer. (Munce won the Grafton feature twice as a jockey … on Count Scenario (1999) and Storm Hill (2005).
First Crush had to endure a tough run to win the $160,000 Listed race on Thursday of the Carnival. The result was a just reward for the gelding who previously finished runner up both in the Ipswich and Caloundra Cups.
First Crush ($4.20) beat Winkler ($101) by a length with favourite Reneged ($3.10) a head away in third.
Zimbabwean born jockey Mark Du Plessis rode his first Grafton Cup winner. Du Plessis is no stranger to success. While First Crush was his first Black Type winner in Australia Du Plessis has no less than 24 Group 1 successes to his credit in New Zealand.
Du Plessis has been based in Brisbane since May over the carnival period. He would be a great asset to the riding ranks in Queensland if he could be persuaded that his long term future lies in the Sunshine State.
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Havasay won the Listed Ramornie Handicap for trainer Toby Edmonds who immediately deflected praise for the win onto the horse’s former trainer Liam Birchley.
Edmonds initially took over the training of Havasay when Birchley was disqualified in the Aquanita race day treatment affair but the horse returned to Birchley at Eagle Farm when he was granted a stay of proceedings in Victoria where the case has been heard.
Racing NSW stewards however placed a ban on all Birchley-trained horses in the state so Havasay duly went back to Edmonds for Wednesday's feature 1200m-sprint at the Grafton carnival.
Ridden by Matt McGillivray, Havasay ($5.50) beat the locally trained Belflyer ($21) by half a length with the Edmonds-trained favourite Tyzone ($4) a short half head behind the runner-up.
Matt McGillivray tasted his maiden victory in the Ramornie of 2018. He has a special affiliation with Rothesay five-year-old gelding riding him 11 times for 5 wins and 3 placings.
Matt was elated after the victory telling WINNO, "It is definitely a day to remember. It's one of the highlights of my career.”
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On Ramornie Day there was a race fall where three jockeys came down in a race.
Jockeys Ben Looker, Josh Adams and Jake Hull were all dislodged from their mounts in what looked to be a very serious incident.
All three boys were taken to hospital where they were later discharged. Josh and Ben had some stitches to some facial injuries whilst Jake also escaped any serious injury.
This was the second fall for Jake Hull within three days. He came off a horse on Monday at Tamworth after it had crossed the line. He dusted himself off and was cleared to ride and then backed up two races later and rode Skyscraper to win for trainer Mark Mason.
That is one tough hombre people!
And again, after the fall at Grafton he returned to action on Sunday, the last day of the Carnival, to ride one of his favourite horses Red Letter Day for his brother Ben in the Maclean Bowling Club Maclean Cup. No fairy tale ending this time but they did manage a credible fourth on the runner who made a long-sustained run in the straight when beaten by Zamex.
Stay tuned in coming weeks – as WINNO goes 60 seconds with Jake Hull who is now based himself at Gosford.
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Matt McGuren was awarded the Jockey of the Carnival.
Matt was unstoppable across the 37 race Carnival. He rode an incredible six winners, six seconds and one third to clinch the carnival riding honours.
He rode two feature race winners saluting aboard the Tony Newing trained King Lear in the John Carlton Cup on Day 1 and on the Marc Quinn trained Cogliere in the Grafton Toyota South Grafton Cup on Day 2.
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Matthew Dunn was awarded the trainer of the Carnival after the last race on Sunday at the Carnival.
The Murwillumbah trainer had a wonderful Carnival training 3 winners over the Carnival which included a feature win in the 2018 Maclean Cup with Zamex.
Vernazza won the two-year-old NBN Springboard to Fame. Vivid Pink was Dunn’s other winner. The stable also had two runner-up finished and a third place to their credit.
Matthew Dunn, who was on holiday Hong Kong, was represented by stable foreman Toby McIntosh who accepted the Clocktower Hotel sponsored winning trophy from the CRJC Chairman, Mr Graeme Green.
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Tony Newing also had a very successful Carnival as well. The Gosford trainer trained 3 Winners over the Carnival.
Newing sent out the four-year-old sprinter King Lear to win the John Carlton cup at Grafton on Day 1 and the horse then returned to his new, favourite track to win the $40,000 Village Green Hotel Association Plate Class 6 Showcase (1200m) on Cup day (a week later). King Lear made it another one act racing affair when the gelding destroyed his opponents to win his second race in a week at Grafton in a dominant performance.
King Lear had won a berth in Wednesday's Ramornie when he won the John Carlton Cup on Day 1 of the Carnival but Newing resisted the exemption clause because he knew it was too soon for his lightly raced gelding.
“He needed more time to prepare him for a proper dash at such a prestigious and big race” he told WINNO. "He's the best horse I've ever had, he is very exciting."
He said King Lear is likely to go for a spell now after his two wins at Grafton.
WINNO reminded Tony that this year's Ramornie Handicap winner, Havasay, had won this same race last year.
Newing said that 2019 Ramornie was now on his racing radar.
Stay tuned in coming weeks – as WINNO goes 60 seconds with Tony Newing from his home town at Gosford!
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Usurp broke through for a big, maiden win in the $45,000 Northern Rivers Concrete Pumping Big Maiden Showcase Handicap (1200m) on Cup Day.
The Maryann Brosnan-trained gelding, a three-year-old son of Lonhro, followed up on a half-length second at Ipswich with his breakthrough success at Grafton. Jim Byrne rode the gelding and believes there are more successes in store for him.
"The other day (at Ipswich) he went pretty hard. He is a bit of a relaxed customer and there is a bit more depth to him yet. He had an awkward draw and I had to use him to get across” Byrne said.
I would suggest you keep your eye on the runners from the race as it usually does provide some winners going forward. The depth and quality of the field has always stood up.
One of these could be the Brad Witt trained Inkblot who debuted in the race and was a credible fourth. I love the silks on this one as well!
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Romney’s Choice is trained at Eagle Farm by Chris Anderson. He celebrated his first win with the daughter of Denman in the $50,000 TAB.com.au Mother's Gift (1400m) on Cup Day.
He'd bought the five-year-old mare over the internet for just $20,000 from a Sydney trainer.
She had debuted for him at Doomben with a fourth last December and then ran third there when she resumed from a spell on June 27.
"She's not the soundest horse I've ever trained," Chris Anderson told WINNO, but he does believe she has plenty more to give as well. "She's a Saturday horse moving forward from here."
In Wimbledon fashion I did persuade him to lift the trophy above his head to celebrate the win – with him telling me, “This will come back to haunt me for sure”!
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Patriot is trained by the “new kid on the block” Matthew McCudden at Port Macquarie.
The Reward for Effort three-year-old gelding was ridden to perfection by Robert Thompson in the Bidfood BM69 on Cup Day.
After the race McCudden was stoked with the win saying “I thought he may need the run, but having RT (Robert Thompson) aboard really brought the best out in him."
This was McCudden’s fifth career winner in just 33 starts since he commenced training back on 25 March this year.
Up until Thursday Ben Looker had ridden all his career winners.
You know what they say it never rains it pours!
Then on Saturday he had another winner at his home track at Port with his talented stable apprentice Cejay Graham when she rode Dew Drop to win a Class 1 race.
Stay tuned in coming weeks – as WINNO goes 60 seconds with Matt in what was an entertaining interview!
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I must sing the praises of the race caller and Sky Racing’s Anthony Collins.
His calls over the Carnival were spectacular. He makes you feel part of the day if you are listening at home or on the radio – whilst on the track he brings a new dimension to the call as he brings passion and excitement to the races.
I caught up with him after a solid week of calling and a week on the road.
Can you believe this schedule?
Grafton Thursday 5 July
Toowoomba Saturday 7 July
Grafton Sunday 8 July
Grafton Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 July
Port Macquarie Saturday 14 July
Grafton Sunday 15 July
Ballina Tuesday 17 July
I did take this QLD Muppet on in a tipping competition over the five days of the Grafton Carnival.
I must report honestly - I even tried to change the rules on the last day, but he was too good for me on one of his favourite tracks giving me an absolute drubbing – 4 to 1.
Well done Queenslander! I will be back again next year and watch out!
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