Sport
4 July, 2023
Double triumphs at Sensational Sunday races
THREE horse trainers and two jockeys enjoyed two victories each at last weekend’s Sensational Sunday race meet at the Kilcoy Race Club.
Trainers Ryan Tyrell and Tom Button enjoyed success in the first two races before trainer Jack Bruce had success in the eighth and ninth races.
Matthew Powell rode the winning horse in the first and third races, before Micheal Hellyer was the winning jockey in the fifth and tenth races.
The race distances ranged from 800m to 1900m while races two, seven and nine were won by the favourite on the track rated a Soft 5.
Just 0.2 or 0.3 of a length separated the winner and runner-up in six of the races, while another had a margin of half a length.
The first two races were 800m, with a field of seven followed by a field of 10.
On the first occasion, the favourite led at the halfway stage before finishing runner-up to the second favourite. The Tyrell- and Button-trained I Am Thor, ridden by Powell, won by 1.3 lengths.
The Tyrell- and Button-trained and Justin Huxtable-ridden Time To Star won race two by half a length, before the next three races were even more heart-stopping as the margin between first and second place was 0.2 of a length each time.
In the first of the 1200m races, the fourth favourite edged out the second favourite while the favourite placed third in the field of nine. The winner was the Shaun Dwyer-trained and Powell-ridden Dutchy’s Angel.
The second 1200m race also had a field of nine, with equal-fourth favourite Best Song coming from sixth place to edge out the favourite which was ridden by Huxtable.
Leigh Wanless was the winning trainer while the jockey was Georgina Cartwright.
The next four races were 1500m, with fields of 10, nine, 10 and eight respectively.
Fourth favourite Caerus (NZ), trained by Olivia Cairns and ridden by Hellyer, finished just ahead of the third favourite in the fifth race of the day.
In race six, the favourite finished runner-up to the equal-second favourite as 0.3 of a length separated them.
The Jan Aitkenhead-trained and Adin Thompson-ridden Chance at Midnight came from second-last place to steal victory.
In race seven, the third favourite was well-placed to win before the favourite – Atlantic Royal – came from seventh place to win by the agonising 0.2 of a length margin.
Atlantic Royal was trained by Paul Jenkins and ridden by Craig Robertson.
Jack Bruce trained the winning horse in the last of the 1500m races as well as the first of the 1900m races.
In the 1500m race, the Bruce-trained and Samantha Collett-ridden Freddie was the second favourite, which finished 0.8 of a length ahead of the runner-up and favourite which was also trained by Bruce.
In the first 1900m race, the Bruce-trained and Corey Bayliss-ridden Surreel lived up to the favourite’s tag as Surreel came from sixth to win by a length in the field of seven.
The fourth favourite won the final race in a field of nine, with the Rob Davidson-trained and Hellyer-ridden Hell Of A Prince coming from sixth to win by 0.3 of a length while the second favourite was the runner-up.
