WARWICK Farm trainer Jarrod Austin believes there is another city win in Another Snappy following his win in the Mayors Cup (1750m), the feature event at Muswellbrook’s Melbourne cup day meeting.
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However, the eight-year-old will first go to the paddock for a spell.
“This was his tenth start this preparation so he deserves a break,” Austin said.
“He has been a great horse and I think there are one or two more wins in him including another city win.
“I thought that on his sixth at Warwick Farm at his last start he was a big chance in this race.
“It looked a nice race for him to wind up this preparation.”
Another Snappy is the winner of 11 races including two at Canterbury and at his last start he was beaten only half a length.
Kacie Adams, his regular rider, settled him in second place behind the leader Apache Lad then went away in the straight to win by one and a quarter-lengths from Chosen Prince with the second favourite and locally-trained, Love None, rocketing home from last for third.
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STEPHEN Gleeson continued his winning run when Cosmic Reign ($2.60 fav) led all the way to snare the Hunter Valley Printing Benchmark 66 (1280m) and give Ben Looker the second leg of a winning double.
The Muswellbrook-based Gleeson stable has hit a purple patch of form, with six winners in the past six weeks including three successive feature races at the track with Pippi’s Pride.
One of those previous winners was Cosmic Reign, which won at Muswellbrook on October 1.
“It is another case of a horse loving his home track,” Gleeson said.
“Three of his four wins have been here while he has also run second here.
“He is not a good traveller and there is another race here on November 30 that suits him so we will keep him for that.”
The win was some consolation for the loss from his stable of La Loi, which pulled up sore after her unplaced debut, as favourite, at Muswellbrook last Sunday.
The five-year-old mare has been a real headache for Gleeson, continually going sore as he tried to get her to the races.
“It is a tragedy because potentially she was the best horse I ever had,” he said.
“I will give her to my brother Jason and he can breed from her.”
Jason Gleeson runs Abbey Stud, adjacent to Stephen Gleeson’s stable.
Gleeson said Pippi’s Pride has pulled well after his win in the Sandy Hollow Cup last Sunday.
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BEN Looker, married last weekend, has delayed his honeymoon until next month and helped pay for the wedding with his winning rides on Cosmic Reign and on Anchois in the Mangoola Coal Maiden (1000m).
The win by Anchois came at her first run from a spell and at her first start for Cody Morgan after being switched from another stable.
Looker settled Anchoise on the outside of The Sprooker and the pair set a solid pace.
Anchoise hung on the turn but once she balanced up she went on to win by two and a half lengths from Philadora.
“She got on the wrong leg on the turn but once she got balanced hit the line well,” Looker said.
Morgan believes that than Anchois will have to be restricted to 1100m and 1200m races.
“She goes too hard to get any further,” he said.
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TAMWORTH’S Cody Morgan took four horses to the meeting and came away with a winning double.
He won the opening event, the Mangoola Coal Maiden (1000m), with Anchois ridden by Ben Looker and the Muswellbrook Coal Bowman Sprint (900m) with the former Godolphin sprinter Ozark (apprentice Wendy Peel).
The win by Ozark held special significance for his strapper, Nevada Mansfield.
Morgan, who paid only $6000 for Ozark at a dispersal sale six weeks ago, gave Mansfield a five per cent share in the horse and he won the race on her 19th birthday.
“Cody said he wanted to thank me for all my hard work so gave me a share of the horse,” Mansfield said.
Morgan said he would probably take Ozark to Brisbane for a sprint.
“He is a nice horse but he is a roarer and that is always a problem,” Morgan said.
“I would have hoped that Wendy would have a bit further back than where she was but she is a 2kg claiming apprentice.
“She still rode him well.”
Ozark, a winner of three city races, tended to hang out in the straight but was still too classy to win by one and three quarter lengths from Gunnaza.
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ROBERT Thompson did not have a ride in the final race, the HTBA Class 1 (1450m) when Allan Denham scratched Silent Jack, the horse he was supposed to saddle up on.
Then Les Tilley offered Thompson the ride on Master Of The Turf and they combined to win.
“Originally I had Rachael Murray on the horse but then I discovered she had taken a booking for Axel Bling,” Tilley said.
“I was talking to Allan here at Muswellbrook on Sunday and he said he wasn’t running Silent Jack so I offered Robert the ride straight away.
“We have combined to win a lot of races over the years.”
Master Of A Design, a five-year-old, underlined his potential by winning a maiden at Scone last month then this race.
“He has been slow to mature,” Tilley said.
“I broke him then he went to another trainer but the present owners later bought him at a sale and asked me to train him.
“At this stage I will keep him around these country tracks.”
Thompson had Master Of The Turf ($21) worse than mid-field, gradually worked forward towards the turn, was one of the widest runners and gradually gathered in the leaders, despite wanting to hang, to beat Dundee Lee ($4) in a tight photo.
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IT was Melbourne Cup Day at Dubbo four years ago that John Kehoe rode his last winner until he saluted on the John Miller-trained Bonnie Forever in Tuesday’s The Remington Motor Inn Maiden (1280m).
She was only Kehoe’s fifth ride since resuming his career and followed Bonnie Forever’s first up fifth at Taree last month, when ridden by Kehoe.
“John is a very hard worker and a good little rider,” Miller said.
“He helps me with a lot of the work, rides a lot of work and helps me with all my babies.
“This mare has been promising to win a race for a long time.
“I had her originally when she won a trial then she went to Allan Kehoe (John’s brother) then came back to me and I freshened her up for Taree and then this race.”
Kehoe soon had Bonnie Forever ($26) in front from barrier nine and was never headed, winning by a length from Gacela ($8.50).
