Paradise Palms’ close quinella
Five shots ahead, he waited for challengers but they never arrived Belorum retires on top after rails run
GOLF GOLFERS scrambled down to Half Moon Bay Golf Club on Saturday for the club’s running of the Volkswagen Scramble – Australia’s largest proamateur teams event.
For the tournament’s first phase, local teams of four took to the Yorkeys Knob golf course for the chance to qualify for the Regional Finals, to be held next March, where they will then contend for a spot at the Championship Finals, to be held at Sunshine Coast’s Twin Waters Golf Club in May.
Half Moon Bay members Jake Hopper, Mark Mitchell, Rod Gilbert and Ross McConnell were unlucky to miss out on qualifying in what was a close and entertaining day’s play.
“All the scores were pretty tight,” Hopper said. “There was only a half-a-shot in it in the end.
“We came third – we had 54. The winners got 53. There were two groups from Paradise Palms and they came first and second, which means they’ll go on to qualify.”
The day offered up “beautiful” conditions for players.
“The greens were good, they were running nicely,” Hopper said.
“It was a great event – wellrun and everyone was happy.”
Despite there being little wind to contend with due to the ideal conditions, the Half Moon Bay course still managed to offer up its fair share of surprises.
“The crocodile was out there, one of my mates saw it,” said Hopper.
However, he wasn’t too fazed. “It’s not even two metres,” he said. MACKAY sprinter Belorum has finished his racing career on the perfect note after taking out Saturday’s Ingham Gold Cup Benchmark 60 Handicap (1400m) at Cluden Park.
Belorum ($8) took advantage of the rails run along the home straight to beat out Our Single Doubt ($6) for trainer Gareth Horner with John Barr-trained favourite Oratini ($3) a length back in third.
It was Belorum’s first win in 16 starts in Townsville and trainer Tracy Simmons said the eight-year-old had earned his retirement.
Belorum had been with the Darren Weir stable in Victoria before Simmons purchased him in 2016. She said the son of Bel Esprit had always been a consistent performer.
“It was a very impressive run, we were very happy with the old boy. We’ve actually retired him a winner,” she said.
“He’s quite a consistent horse, but he’s had a couple of little feet issues in the last couple of months so his runs have probably showed that – his highs and then his lows.
“We did expect a good performance. We weren’t at all surprised with his win.”
It was a successful day at Cluden Park for Simmons and her husband, David, who rode Shoreline to a win in the Benchmark 65 Handicap (1000m).
Shoreline showed her class to beat home the well-backed Bullion Woolf ($2 favourite) for Leslie Gordy with the Ben Williams-trained Molongle Fire ($10) in third.
The former Brisbane sprinter is only a newcomer to the Simmons stable, but Tracy felt Shoreline had a promising future following her first Townsville start.