Meeting In Review – Friday 7 June 2024 New

Date: 10-Jun-2024

A crispness in the air thanks to a chilly breeze greeted those that attended Friday’s meeting, our final race day before the 2024 Ipswich Cup meeting in two weeks.

Infield tents signalled that Cup Day preparations are now in full swing, and one jockey followed our lead by tuning up with a winning double.

Damien Thornton had just the four rides on Friday but left the Bundamba circuit with two wins and a second.

The first of his wins came in the Seven News QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Handicap over 1350m with Miss Miriam.

The Jack Bruce-trained daughter of Divine Prophet looked hard to beat based on excellent recent form and started a $1.65 favourite.

After a good start, Thornton snagged his mount back towards the tail to prevent being posted wide in the run.

At the Great Northern sign, he started to circle the field and by the time they straightened he was just a length off the lead.

She let down with a powerful burst to stride clear and win by a length.

It didn’t take long for Thornton to register his second win for the day with it coming in the very next race.

The Group 1 winning hoop teamed up with the Kelly Schweida-trained Bid For Fame in the Ray White Ipswich Benchmark 58 Handicap.

Barrier 11 in the field of 11 could have posed problems but Thornton allowed the Tavistock mare to get into rhythm before slotting in midfield one off the fence.

Just as he did aboard Miss Miriam, he got Bid For Fame moving with 600m to go.

However, roughie Brave Boy had similar plans and went for home creating quite a gap in the straight.

Justin Huxtable threw the kitchen sink at Brave Boy to get him over the line, but it was Bid For Fame that kept toiling and got there right on the line to win the 2210m contest by a nose.

While ‘Hux’ would have been disappointed to not get the win, he was able to turn the tables on Thornton later in the day when he piloted Kalumburu to victory in the River 94.9FM Ratings Band 0-62 Handicap.

With a strong speed being set in front, Huxtable was happy to settle towards the back on the Lindsay Hatch-trained son of The Mission.

Huxtable hugged the rail entering the straight and powered home before demonstrating his customary strength to lift the four-year-old late and win by 1.18 lengths.

There wouldn’t be a stronger jockey in a finish than Huxtable and he’s riding in terrific form at the moment.

Several horses were heavily backed on the day, none more so than Find Your Own and Shows A Sign.

Find Your Own jumped as a $1.18 favourite in the Maiden Handicap over 800m.

The Scott Morrisey-trained gelding justified the quote, by leading all the way to smash his rivals by 5.23 lengths.

The margin could have been bigger if not for jockey Michael Cahill taking care of him late.

Punters gravitated to Shows A Sign in the TAB QTIS Two-Year-Old Maiden Plate following his impressive placing on debut in a Saturday metropolitan race, backing him into $1.28.

The wide gate posed no issues at all as ‘Bubba’ Tilley charged straight to the front before the Pat Webster-trained gelding dashed clear to make a miss of the opposition for a 4.19 length win.

It doesn’t seem like an Ipswich meeting if Tony Gollan hasn’t trained a winner.

The seven-time Ipswich premiership winning trainer had to wait until the last race on Friday to enjoy some success.

It was worth the wait with Black On Beauty proving superior despite a slight market drift.

As previously mentioned, our next meeting will be Saturday June 22nd when we host our annual Ipswich Cup meeting.

By Craig Sheppard

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