Last Monday evening’s Canberra meeting (14th November) was once again the hunting ground of Goulburn trainers Dennis and Neil Day. Club President, Dennis Day qualified his two runners Whatifwhynot and Iron Outlaw for the $6,000 J W O’Sullivan & Son Pace when each won their respective heat.
Whatifwhynot kicked off proceedings by jumping straight to the front in the first $3,000 heat over the 2170m journey. Starting from barrier 3, the 4yo Ifihadyourluck gelding led throughout and going down the back straight on the last occasion was being held back to the field as he clocked a 29.9 third quarter. With 250m to run, Day kicked the odds on favourite away from the field and on straightening for the run home was 2 lengths clear which he held to the finish line. The final quarter was put behind in a solid 29.4 seconds with the overall mile rate 2:03.8; the minor place positions were filled by the Canberra based Bold Banyula and Young Cullen.
The second heat was race 2 of the evening and unlike his stablemate and winner of the previous race, Iron Outlaw settled towards the back of the field until the 700m marked where he commenced a three wide move. Sprinting quickly along the back straight, the 4yo Aces N Sevens gelding drew to the front before the 400m mark as the third quarter was put behind in 29.9 seconds. With Day sitting patiently Iron Outlaw broke away from the field to lead them by 4 lengths as they entered the home straight and in a final quarter of 29.1 seconds, Iron Outlaw held on to win by a touch under 10m from Wild Oates and Positive Thoughts. The mile rate of 2:03.1 was the fastest of the night.
The winner of the third heat was the Michael Hardy trained Mary Florence who led throughout to score impressively from Imaginality and the Graham Moon trained and driven Ringraith. The 4yo Mach Three mare scored by 3.4m and recorded a mile rate of 2:04.2
The $6,000 final, which is race 2 on tonight’s Canberra card, will prove a very interesting contest. With the Dennis Day runners drawing barriers 3 (Whatifwhynot) and 11 (Iron Outlaw), Day is likely to provide the favourite for the event in Whatifwhynot which will be driven by talented young Menangle driver Robbie Morris.
Last Monday Canberra programme also saw the running of the $6,000 ACT PA Final for C0 class horses over the 1770m distance. The Neil Day trained Trueative was sent out a very short priced favourite at $1.30 following his impressive first up win the week before.
Driven by Amy Day, Trueative was straight to the front and with a first half in only 67.5 seconds the favourite was far too good for the opposition when he sprinted home in a sizzling last half of 57.6 seconds. The last quarter was recorded in 27.9 seconds as Trueative gapped the second placed Cashel Cormac by 16.9m with a further 7.9m back to En Peaz Casino in third spot.
In the last race of the night the Amy Day driven Kenneth Lloyd, trained by Corey Parker, caused a boil over result when successful at the huge odds of $45.60. Patiently driven, Amy pushed the 4yo Trump Casino gelding up behind the leaders before forcing her way through at the top of the straight to hit the front 20m from the line. For favourite betters the result was made all the worse as second over the line was the short priced favourite Shezapest with Dennis Day’s Nearlynot hanging on for third after leading well into the straight.
The win on Kenneth Lloyd was the second consecutive double for the young Goulburn reins woman and sees her 5th on the leading female driver list for the State. Amy’s total wins are 6 from a very small number of only 20 drives.
