CORNISH LANDS THE DECISIVE WIN OF HER SEASON

By Graham Potter | Saturday, July 30, 2022

A double at the Gold Coast on July 16. A win at Toowoomba on July 23. A win at the Sunshine Coast on July 25. A win at Doomben on July 27. A win at Ipswich on July 29 … and Jasmine Cornish would now add another level to that layer of consistency by scoring what would be the decisive win of her season when she piloted the Liam Birchley trained Bungarribee Lad to victory at Toowoomba in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Benchmark Handicap over 1200m on July 30.

This win put Cornish two-and-a-half wins in front of Angela Jones in the Queensland Provincial Apprentice Jockey Premiership and, although Jones would fight back bravely with two winners of her own on the night, that half-a-win advantage that Cornish would take into the final day of the season at the Sunshine Coast on July 31, would be enough for her to secure the title and a significant achievement in its own right.

Bungarribee Lad had won two of his previous three starts going into this contest, but as they were achieved at country meetings at Moranbah (when still with trainer Bevan Johnson) and Nanango (after the stable switch to Liam Birchley), the four-year-old son of Bagger Vance went off at a starting price of $9.

Cornish’s talent for generally getting horses away so well at the break was again very much in evidence here as she took the Birchley trained runner into an immediate lead.

Bungarribee Lad was soon joined up front by the Barbary Royale (the $4.80 equal favourite) and Cornish was prepared to allow Bungarribee Lad to roll along alongside Barbary Royale, always holding the rail and seemingly doing it quite comfortably.

When Cornish asked her mount for more approaching the home turn, Bungarribee Lad quickly put paid to Barbary Royale … and, in fact, to all of his rivals as he bounded away to assert his authority in no uncertain terms to have his race run well before the finish line.

Bungaribee Lad is now a three-time winner from only eight starts.

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