CORNISH ANNOUNCES HER ARRIVAL IN ROCKHAMPTON IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS

By Graham Potter | Friday, May 27, 2022

The best way for a jockey to gain attention when they ride in a new racing precinct is to land an early strike … and Jasmine Cornish could not have been any quicker in announcing her arrival in Rockhampton when she brought home a winner in her very first ride at the track in a QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap over 1200m on May 27.

That winner, the well performed two-year-old filly Tequila Dancer, had won at Toowoomba over 1000m just ten days earlier and, on the back of that win, she started as second favourite at $3.20 behind the Clinton Taylor trained Betterdeel ($2.40).

Tequila Dancer was drawn wide, but Cornish helped the daughter of Heroic Valour to quickly offset that disadvantage by taking Tequila Dancer to an early lead seemingly with the minimum of fuss … but there was to be repercussions over Tequila Dancer’s inward movement in the Stewards’ Room afterwards. (*see below).

When the field settled down, the $9.50 chance Bonaguru went up to eyeball Tequila Dancer and actually gained a slight advantage over the William Kropp trained runner, enough to allow Bonaguru to turn into the straight narrowly at the head of affairs.

Tequila Dancer wasn’t going away though.

In fact, Cornish was just measuring the moment in which to ask Tequila Dancer for her finishing effort … and when she asked, Tequila Dancer immediately put Bonaguru under pressure before asserting her authority in no uncertain terms to stride away to a very comfortable 2.75 length win.

That’s three wins from only five starts now for Tequila Dancer whose career is tracking in a very positive direction … and the near perfect result for Jasmine Cornish in her Rockhampton debut, even it if it did come at a cost in the Steward’s room.

*Cornish pleaded guilty to a charge under AR 131(a) for careless riding, when shifting in when insufficiently clear of another runner at approximately the 900m. She picked up an eight day suspension commencing at midnight 5th of June 2022 and concluding at midnight 13th June 2022.

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