Scherzoso turns it on late to win in Cairns
WHEN Trinity Bannon was an up-and-coming jockey, the colourful Noel Callow was someone she could always turn to for advice.
Bannon now trains after giving up riding, and the pair combined, for the first time ever as a trainer and jockey duo, on Saturday to win the $75,000 Cairns Amateurs Open Sprint (1400m) in stunning fashion with Scherzoso.
“I knew Noel when I was young and lived in Victoria, it was good to put him on as that was the first time he has ridden for me,” Bannon said.
“He helped me out a bit when I was young.”
Scherzoso is Mackay based but he loves the far north, winning on each of his two trips to Cannon Park this season, claiming feature races on both occasions.
The eight-year-old gelding looked little hope of winning halfway down the straight before bursting through the middle of the pack to score by 0.3 lengths.
“I thought he was gone, he just did not look like he was making ground, suddenly he burst through and it was bloody exciting,” Bannon said.
Stablemate Warwick Avenue finished fourth, with Bannon thinking he was more of a chance than Scherzoso in running.
Rockhampton gelding Mr Attitude was unsuccessful in his second and final attempt to secure the $150,000 sprinters’ bonus after placing third in the Cairns Amateurs Open Sprint.
Having been penalised in the weights following his victories in the Mackay Newmarket and the Cleveland Bay Handicap in Townsville, the six-year-old was unable to repeat the dose in either of the Cairns features.