It’s taken a few weeks for the JSL Racing (Australasia) horses to recover from their trip up to Queensland and acclimatise to the fabulous conditions they are training under, but today, at the Sunshine Coast Trials, they indicated that they are well on their way to becoming racing conquerors…and isn’t John Symons looking very, very happy!
First cab off the rank was JACQUERIC who, with the able pilot Sarah Eilbeck (a 3 kg English claimer) won his trial with great authority, treating his field of C2 competitors with disdain after becoming a little agitated in the barriers and missing the jump a tad, settling with one behind him but then mustering momentum to come home over the top of them in a slick 53.07 sec for the 850m. Sarah reported that the further they went, the better he went, auguring well for his race day start shortly.
Next to trial was CAPE DENISON, the lovely Testa Rossa – Wooden Hut mare.She settled just behind mid field and also came with a very strong finish down the outside to win her trial very nicely in 53.21 sec, a length ahead of the second horse.
Finally was MEWSTONE ROCK who was exceptionally impressive after settling towards the rear of the field and then unleashing a devastating finish once she balanced up on straightening to win in 52.61 sec (35.03 sec the final 600m) and it was the fastest time of the day – the Open horses completed the trip in 53.05 sec!! Mewstone Rock has had a little difficulty in adapting to the right hand way of Queensland racing but Sarah did not experience any issues with her at all, which was rewarding to see.
Incidentally, Sarah rode 5 winners in the 9 trials (and didn’t have rides in 3 of them!!), so we are more than happy to have her securely placed in the JSL riding ranks, along with Jeff Lloyd (4th in the Queensland Jockey Premiership, winning over $3,000,000 in stakes so far this season and has a 13.2% strike rate) and Damian Brown (8th in the premiership but with a huge 26.8% strike rate!!).
A great advantage with Sarah, of course, is that she is able to ride many of our horses work in the mornings – a huge plus when it comes to knowing how best to place her horse on race day.
With 4 starts in Queensland to date for 2 seconds and 2 fourths, we are sure to be greeting the judge very, very shortly!
See Mewstone Rock’s trial here
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