ISLINGTON BAY EARNS CRACK AT ELLERSLIE MILE

ISLINGTON BAY earned a crack at the $100,000 Rich Hill Mile at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day when he unleashed a bullocking run to snatch a last-stride win in the $25,000 Capture Signs Handicap (1200m) at Awapuni yesterday.

The Stravinsky gelding was at double-figure odds after only finishing eighth at Ellerslie last start, but his Rotorua trainer and part- owner, Mary Sheely, was quietly confident of a big run from the horse.

‘‘He’d been working well and I said if he won today we’d look at the Rich Hill Mile,’’ Sheely said.

‘‘He just doesn’t like the Ellerslie track and is much better going lefthanded,’’ she added.

Islington Bay is the only horse Sheely has in work at the moment, but she also bought a Stravinsky colt at last month’s Ready To Run Twoyear-old sale at Karaka. She races Islington Bay in partnership with the horse’s Cambridge breeder, Jacqueline Todd.

FORM jockey Jonathan Parkes has a weighty decision to make over the next couple of days after guiding Ransomed to a dominant win in yesterday’s $25,000 Manawatu Cup Prelude. The Handsome Ransom gelding turned in a first-class trial for this Saturday’s $70,000 Manawatu Cup, but is likely to get in on the minimum weight of 53kg in that race and Parkes, who is very tall for a jockey, hasn’t ridden lighter than 54kg for a long time.

Ransomed’s Awapuni trainer, Gary Vile, has offered Parkes first refusal for the cup ride, but also said he has Leith Innes waiting in the wings if he cannot make the weight.

Ransomed settled perfectly midfield in yesterday’s 2000-metre race and moved up to be camped on the leaders’ heels approaching the home turn. Once in the straight the big five-year-old accelerated quickly to take a clear lead inside the last 200 metres, keeping up a strong run to the line to win by 13⁄ lengths.