GUN RUNNERS SET TO CUT LOOSE
TOOWOOMBA trainer Lindsay Hatch is confident his new Townsville operation is ready to hit the ground running with a number of winning chances at Sunday’s annual Amateurs Race Day at Cluden Park.
Hatch has spent the past two months setting up stables as principal trainer in the city for Ares Racing, and has targeted this weekend’s big Amateurs card to launch the new venture’s first northern runners.
The stable is set to be a high-profile player with five starters, and Hatch is keen on the chances of promising three-year-old Baby Guinness, Bondi Beau and Red Peroni.
“We’ve had seven or eights weeks with these horses and they’ve done an absolute treat. I’m very happy with them going into the weekend,” Hatch said. “I think a couple of them are good chances. The three-year-old Baby Guinness is terribly well weighted and well placed I feel and she’s going terrific.”
Baby Guinness will line up one of the leading chances in the Hygain QTIS 3YO Hcp (1000m) at her first start since April.
The Heroic Valour filly showed plenty of potential in her two-yearold season with a win on debut at Cluden, before a close second to Horse of the Year Missile Thunder and an unplaced run in the Rockhampton Classic before spelling.
Hatch also likes the chances of noted first-up performer Bondi Beau up against the classy Yes Please in the Townsville Amateur Sprint (1200m) and Red Peroni in the Missile Thunder Horse of the Year BM65 Hcp (1000m).
“I think Bondi Beau’s a nice horse. In a lot of his good runs he was very unlucky in the run. He’s got good first up form and if he can beat Yes Please he’ll be very hard to beat.
“Red Peroni is a chance as well. He’s well placed, freshened up really nicely and there’s been nothing wrong with his runs. I’m still getting to know all of these horses, but we’re pretty confident that we couldn’t have them going any better without running them.”
Meanwhile, last season’s premier jockey Lacey Morrison is hoping to continue a winning return from injury with a strong book of rides on the eight event card.
Morrison, stable jockey for trainer Sharlee Hoffman, enjoyed the best season of her career in 2021-22, landing 78 winners and taking a clean sweep of the Townsville, Cairns and Tablelands premierships.
But the hoop’s run came to an abrupt halt in August when she suffered facial injuries in a trackwork accident and was sidelined for two months.
Morrison and trainer Roy Chillemi, who won his 17th training title this year, have both been acknowledged with races named in their honour and will be presented with trophies during the meeting.