Sam is the man in Cup success
TALENTED apprentice Sam Weatherley was the man of the moment at Rotorua on Saturday.
Weatherley was on fire, winning three races highlighted by his ride on Listed Taumarunui Cup victor Gentil Tonton.
Weatherley knew all about the handsome horse formerly prepared by his boss Lance O’Sullivan who trains at Matamata in partnership with Andrew Scott.
When the horse recently shifted into the ownership of John Bell and moved to his Cambridge stable, Weatherley never let the horse fall off his radar.
Showing the maturity that has made the 18-year-old so successful in his short career, he rang for the Taumarunui Cup ride convincing Bell he could win the race.
Weatherley, who had ridden Gentil Tonton on four previous occasions, was true to his word.
‘‘He wanted to win the race and he did,’’ Bell said. ‘‘Sam’s ridden the horse a treat - he’s not an easy horse to ride.’’
Bell hoped a change of surroundings would give Gentil Tonton a new lease on life.
‘‘We changed a whole bunch of things around,’’ he said. ‘‘We tried to make friends with him - he’s had a few worries in the world!’’
The son of Yeats had to be tough to win the race after settling off a strong speed set firstly by Katie McKeen before Jochen Rindt took over.
Weatherley knew what he had underneath him and swooped on the leaders accompanied by Pump Up The Volume and they fought out the finish with Jochen Rindt weakening slightly to finish third.
‘‘It wasn’t his favourite ground and he never really travelled in the run, but the solid pace up front suited him and he really dug in the last bit,’’ Weatherley said.
A two-time winner in his native Ireland for Patrick Prendergast, Gentil Tonton then had one start in Hong Kong for Gary Moore before he transferred to the Cambridge stable of Trevor and Martin Cruz.
He was successful three times for them and a further victory was gained while with O’Sullivan and Scott.
Bell will take his time deciding on his horse’s future concentrating on keeping his attitude where it needs to be.
‘‘We’ll get him happy and look for something with him.’’
Crafty Jess continued on her winning way for the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman stable earlier in the day.
The Cambridge stable maintained domination of the trainers’ premiership with their 106th win for the season leaving them well clear on the table with Kevin Myers heading the rest TRISH DUNELL with 81 wins.
Crafty Jess is as tough as they come and wore down the pacemaker Shellez Ace for apprentice jockey Hairi Marzuki who has being putting his riding claim to good use recently.
‘‘Hairi has ridden her a treat again,’’ Forsman said. ’’I said to him when I legged him up to ride her just like he did the start before and he’s done that.’’
Apprenticed to Stephen Marsh, Marzuki came to New Zealand to further his career after one win in his homeland.
Bowie added another later in the day for the leading stable while cementing the apprentice jockeys’ premiership for Weatherley.
The hat-trick and a career-first black-type win proved the perfect wrap on Weatherley’s championship season.
Weatherley has ridden 67 wins in his successful season and had a comfortable ride on Bowie.
‘‘Bowie has raced well here before and we came in with some confidence,’’ Forsman said. HUGH Bowman has ended the season with the Sydney jockeys’ premiership and a seven-meeting suspension for careless riding at Rosehill.
Bowman was outed after pleading guilty to a charge over an incident in the penultimate race yesterday that also resulted in his mount Wild’n’Famous being relegated to second following a protest.
Leading Sydney apprentice Andrew Adkins successfully argued Most Exalted was denied victory in the ATC Thanks Our Owners Handicap (1350m) after Bowman allowed Wild’n’Famous to shift out at the 200m mark.
Most Exalted was elevated to first and then Bowman faced the stewards for a second time.
Racing NSW deputy chief steward Philip Dingwall said Bowman could resume riding on August 13, adding: ‘‘Congratulations anyway for winning the premiership.’’
Bowman would have missed next week’s meetings regardless because he heads to Papua New Guinea today with fellow jockeys Corey Brown, Kathy O’Hara and Stephen Baster.
They will walk the Kokoda Track to raise money for the Mark Hughes Foundation for Brain Cancer Research and the National Jockeys Trust.
Meanwhile, Melbourne’s metropolitan racing season came to a premature end after the final five races were called off at Caulfield due to strong winds.
The feature race at yesterday’s season-ending city program, the Bletchingly Stakes, will be held at Sandown next Sunday.
The other races will be added to that day or be held a day earlier at Flemington.
Racing Victoria steward Robert Cram said the decision to call off the meeting after four races was made after consulting with jockeys and taking a vote of riders who were to compete in the fifth race.
‘‘Winds have been extreme,’’ Cram said.
‘‘There’s been strong winds, around 70 kilometres (per hour) and been gusting up to 90, towards 100 kilometres an hour.
‘‘The jockeys have been riding under difficult circumstances. The starting stalls were moving around. We had some horses shifting during the races due to high winds. There was an element of danger.
‘‘The jockeys weren’t happy with the situation.’’
Under Racing Victoria guidelines, stewards called an anonymous vote of the jockeys.
‘ Sam's ridden the horse a treat - he's not an easy horse to ride.’ TRAINER: JOHN BELL
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