Sport
28 February, 2024
Winning double at Kilcoy races
An entertaining afternoon of racing took place at the Kilcoy Race Club last Thursday, as the ‘$1000 Pick the Card Thursday’ race day featured nine races.
The favourite prevailed three times, and on five occasions the margin between the winner and runner-up was less than one length.
The combination of trainer Paula Barron and jockey Elione Chaves won two races, while seven trainers and seven jockeys had one win apiece.
The track was rated a Soft 7 in the lead-up, and was upgraded to a Soft 6 in time for race one before being upgraded to a Soft 5 in time for race three.
Kilcoy Race Club chairperson Con Searle said the track raced well and stood up to the number of times the straight was galloped on.
Mr Searle said it was a credit to track manager Mark Williams for the way the track was prepared, while the drying heat and breeze helped for the track rating.
Mr Searle acknowledged the support of the racing fraternity and patrons, after he had been worried beforehand that there may be a storm, which would have caused a cancellation.
“The big acceptances of horses to race at Kilcoy” made for a great day of racing, according to the Kilcoy Race Club chairperson.
“Kilcoy is becoming very popular with trainers and jockeys who regard the track as the best in Queensland,” he said.
The opening race was 800m, with equal-second favourite Arabian Fix winning by half a length in the field of 11.
After being in third place at the halfway stage, the Rochelle Pereira-trained and Bailey Wheeler-ridden filly edged out the other equal-second favourite.
Race two was the longest, with third favourite Sea Treasures (NZ) edging out the favourite by a mere 0.1 of a length while the fi ft h favourite was another 0.1 of a length behind the runner-up in a nail-biting finish.
The winning trainer was Michelle Labahn, while the winning jockey was Liv O’Donnell as the 2076m race contained a field of seven.
The 1900m race came next, with Barron and Chaves having their first triumph as the fifth favourite in the field of nine, Vacation Leave, beat the favourite by 0.8 of a length. In race four, the favourite also finished 0.8 of a length behind the victor.
Races four and five were 1500m, with a field of 12 each time.
The winning horse in race four was an equal-ninth favourite, Tavistock Grove (NZ), trained by Paul Jenkins and ridden by Samantha Collett.
The winning horse in race five was one of the equal favourites, Passionate Rebel, trained by Paul Shailer and ridden by Boris Thornton.
Passionate Rebel won by two lengths after being in fourth and fi ft h place for a while, and the runner-up came from second-last place in the final 700m.
The final four races were 1200m, with the first of them containing a field of eight.
The second favourite, Masterplan, held on to win as the third favourite sped from last place and finished runner-up, just 0.2 of a length behind the Brad Stewart-trained and Johanna McGrath-ridden gelding.
Stewart and McGrath also had a win with Masterplan on Kilcoy soil on Australia Day, before Masterplan placed fi ft h with a different jockey at Doomben on February 1.
In race seven, equal-fourth favourite The Shaman won by a convincing margin of 3.3 lengths in the field of 12. Madeleine Wishart rode the triumphant gelding while Cameron H Richardson was the trainer.
Barron and Chaves had their second triumph in the second-last race, as favourite Constant Cafe won by 1.5 lengths after being fifth with 400m remaining in the field of nine.
The favourite also won the final race, as Step On Fire came from seventh place in the final 400m to win by 2.3 lengths while the runner-up came from ninth place in the field of 12.
The winning trainer was George Sitek while the jockey was Emily Lang.
Kilcoy’s next race meet will be on March 7.
