QUEENSLAND COUNTRY RACING: CUNNAMULLA – THE QUICK WRAP (JULY 3, 2021)

By Graham Potter | Monday, July 5, 2021

Cunnamulla and District Diggers’ Race Club hosted a five-race meeting yesterday (July 3).

The James Hatch trained Ballycastle, who was having his first run for the stable after transferring from the Stirling Osland yard, scored a comfortable 2.25 length win in the opening event on the card. The very lightly raced three-year-old … this was only the second career start for the Dream Ahead gelding … was ridden by Aaron Sweeney and he started as the third favourite at $3.50.

Terra Di Baccio (Rod Hilton – Tessa Townsend) finished second while the $2.70 favourite Mishani Ghost (Shane Iverson – Anna Bakos) could do no better than fill a distant third place, six lengths behind the winner.
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Local trainer Tim Higgins trained the second race winner Miss Moss, a $4 chance ridden by Alisha Ross. Boom Fire (Shane Iverson – Anna Bakos) and Oxygen Man (Gary Bignell – Aaron Sweeney) finished second and third respectively, while the $1.50 favourite Pollard (Mark Johnstone – Hannah Phillips) finished with only one runner behind him in the eight-horse field.

Extract from the Stewards’ Report: ‘Pollard - Jockey H Phillips, expressed disappointment with the performance of the gelding, which in her opinion may not have been suited by racing on the dirt surface for the first occasion.’
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Aaron Sweeney was back in the winners’ enclosure after race three, this time aboard the Gary Bignell trained Expellable. After their disappointment in the first two races, this result helped put the followers of favourites back on track as Expellable started as favourite at $2.30.

Auric Gold (Mark Johnstone – Hannah Phillips) and New Alliance (Rod Hilton – Ben Moffat) finished second and third respectively.
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Trump Me put trainer Ben Waldron and apprentice jockey Tessa Townsend on the scoreboard in race four when coming home a length clear of Rinviata (Wayne Baker – Alisha Ross) at a starting price of $3.

The Statue Of Liberty gelding was having his first run for the Waldron stable after transferring from the Ricky Vale yard in Rockhampton and was good enough to claim his sixth career win from twenty three starts.
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The Wayne Baker – Alisha Ross combination, who finished second with Rinviata in race four, went one better here when Buddy Ollie took the last race honours at a starting price of $3.

In the best finish of the day, Buddy Ollie just saw off the challenge of Part The Sea (Rodney Forbes – Tessa Townsend) by 0.10 lengths with Maximum Hustle (Leslie Baker – Ben Moffat), who finished third and the fourth placed Leslie James (Carmel Baker – Michael Schrapel) both finished within a length of the winner.
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Aaron Sweeney and Alisha Ross (who also has a second place behind her name) shared the day’s riding honours with two wins apiece. Tessa Townsend was the other jockey to claim a win. Townsend also finished second on two occasions.