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If Thursday’s Ipswich race meeting was an NRL match, Angela Jones would have been awarded all six Dally M points.
Last season’s leading Ipswich apprentice jockey put on a masterclass, winning three of the eight races on the program.
The talented hoop kicked off the day with an expected win in the opening race of the day with the Tony Gollan-trained Moulin Miss.
The two-year-old filly, who jumped at the prohibitive price of $1.30, settled in the box seat for the 800m scamper before letting down nicely to win by 1.68 lengths.
She was a little green in the straight, but it was just the daughter of Spirit Of Boom’s second start so she’ll no doubt take great benefit from the run.
Jones combined with Gollan for another win in the Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1200m with Power Flash.
The four-year-old mare did it at both ends of the race, using her good gate speed to drive forward from the wide draw to lead before putting her rivals to the sword in the final furlong and race away with a three-length victory.
Gollan’s training double took him to 26 wins for the season and a clear leader at the top of this year’s Trainer’s Premiership.
With just two meetings to go in the 2023/24 season, Gollan has double the wins of his nearest rival and is a sure thing to win his eighth Ipswich title.
Jones’ final win of the day came in the Ratings Band 0-58 Handicap with Ocean Honour.
The Peter and Will Hulbert-trained gelding finally broke through for his first win 13 days ago when he saluted at start number 17 at Gatton.
A piece of Jones brilliance provided the patient and committed owners with back-to-back successes.
After drawing the outside gate in the field of 12, Jones snagged her mount back to settle at the tail of the field.
With 600m to go, the young jockey started her move around the field before her mount let rip in the straight to thunder down the centre of the track and win by 1.5 lengths.
While there will be no Ipswich jockey title for Jones this year, she has proven to be a punters’ pal with an impressive 13% return on investment for the season.
Unfortunately, Jones couldn’t make it a perfect day with her other ride on the day, Touchofclass, finishing down the track in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate.
Just as they did at our last meeting, trainer Jeff Dunn and jockey Rikki Jamieson were in the winner’s circle together.
The Catch was scratched at the barriers at last Friday’s meeting, but he certainly made up for that disappointment in yesterday’s Open Handicap over 1350m.
With a hot speed being set in front, Jamieson settled the Dunn-trained six-year-old towards the back of the small field.
The race panned out beautifully with the leaders tiring as they entered the straight and The Catch powering home to win by just under two lengths.
The Catch’s win made it three wins in a row at Ipswich for Dunn.
The Beaudesert trainer has now won four times from 13 runners at Ipswich this season for a return on investment of 287% so hopefully he’s been having a small investment on his horses!
The judge earned his money at Thursday’s meeting with a photo finish required to find a margin of victory in back-to-back races.
Explicable and Jungle Law duked it out all the way up the straight in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1350m, but it was the Marcus Wilson-trained Explicable that was deemed the winner by just 0.08 of a length.
In the following 800m race, $41 shot Voulait drove late after being headed, but it was the short-priced favourite Campai that would claim the win by just 0.06L.
Racing returns to Ipswich next Friday, the 19th of July.
By Craig Sheppard
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