The opening meeting of the Esperance Bay Turf Club will be held this Saturday with a six event card set down on the picturesque track that rates up there with any track in WA. The club will conduct 10 meetings throughout their season culminating with the $30,000 Esperance Cup meeting on Saturday February 27th.
Local trainers Sally Roworth and Brendan Corver are reported to have big teams in work, and with the likes of trainers Fiona Scott, Helen Harding, Jeff Eeles and Tracey Frizell, the locals will be well represented throughout the season. Trainer Derek Jones and Jockey Nicole Hopwood return to the Bay Of Isles for the season and will be joined soon by Garry Price who will base at Esperance after doing the Kalgoorlie winter season. Good supporters of Esperance racing, Annette Crump, Jo Leeson and Justin Parsons all have starters at the first meeting along with Mark Nelson, who is building up a good strike rate at the track.
Racing Radio's Ryan Levitzke is on board at Great Southern Racing Blog to cover the Esperance Season with Previews and Reviews and all the latest news. Here is Ryan's Preview of Saturdays meeting.
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The first of a ten meeting season at the Esperance Bay Turf Club gets underway this Saturday afternoon and the first race is scheduled for 2:03pm. As per usual the opening fixture acknowledges contributors to racing in the region with five of the six events being Memorials. With the majority of gallopers resuming and/or debuting at the track finding winners won’t be easy. Last season’s leading rider Wille Arnold has a full book and he will be joined in the jockey’s room by a host of senior hoops and promising apprentices.
The B.Wilson and C. Murray Memorial Maiden (1000m) is the first of sixty one races to be held this season. Trida Brando has impressed at two recent Esperance trials and stable mate Ella Rose has been placed twice in Perth as a two year old. Competitive Street looked a trifle unlucky at Albany on debut and should be included in Trifecta calculations.
The J. Mathews and F. Conway Memorial will be run over 1200m for Maidens. Gotanygoss makes her Esperance debut and wasn’t far away at Albany earlier this month. The Key Cutter wears saddlecloth number one and on November 16 won a 950m trial at Lark Hill in easy fashion. Brave Critic is likely to find 1200m too short after competing in last season’s Esperance Cup and last start placegetters Bluewater Babe and Ron’s Gem are sure to have admirers.
Race Three starts the Quaddie and is called the D. Plunkett and D. Banner Memorial over 1200m. Second Lady will be one of the favourites. She was a runner up 4 times in a row on hard tracks in August/September and resumes for top trainer Fiona Scott. Billyaintsilly battled away well to finish second last start but his strike rate doesn’t inspire. Donargy has switched to the Brendan Corver stable and has shown plenty of talent in recent seasons but she often takes a couple of runs to reach peak fitness.
The Paul Sullivan Memorial is over 1200m and lining up the form will again be difficult. Stormy Quest won a Maiden at Kalgoorlie in July and It’s Nikov did so in May. Both Tashi Delek and Ridgewood Manna are noted frontrunners and Publicans Horse wasn’t beaten far at his last start at Northam.
The $8,500 Horizon Power Sprint (1100m) sees the return of track specialist He’s Smokin’. Shane Gilchrist is booked to take the ride but with 62.5kg is sure to find winning tough. Expedition tasted success on a few occasions last season and King Of The Stalls was never out of a place. Jay Dee Rocks is a speedster with only 54kg and both Key’s Ace and Dancing Granada will be running on. This is probably the most interesting contest of the afternoon.
The Bow Brothers Memorial is over 1300m at 5:18pm and Majestic Range faces a nice drop in class. Parkside broke his Maiden status at Esperance last season and was able to win again at Laverton in September. Interrogator is better known over longer journeys and the likes of Damon’s Halo, Lady Berthe and Mr Magnificent will all be finishing powerfully. It’s fair to say that doing the form for the rest of the season will be a lot easier after Saturday.
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