A good-sized crowd gathered in warm conditions for the Adaminaby Cup meeting on the Bolaro Flat on Saturday to watch a great full card of racing.
The main event was the Snowy Hydro Adaminaby Cup over 1400 metres, with $20,000 in prize-money, plus trophies. It saw six horses leave the starting gates.
A very exciting finish saw a last stride, short head margin victory to Last Quest ($6) ridden by Teaghan Martin for trainer Gratz Vella from Canberra over the Nick Olive trained Epaullo Creed ridden by Quayde Krogh.
The $2.70 favourite, Le Sante, was three-quarter lengths back in third. A six kilogram handicap favouring Last Quest was likely a helping factor in the victory. Last Quest is raced by a Bombala based syndicate which includes long-time owners Bob and Tim Stewart.
The Snowy Monaro Regional Council – Future Generation JV – Alpine Motor Group and Orica 1000 metre Maiden Hcp was race one and saw a length victory to Oklahoma Smokeshow, trained in Canberra by Darryl Rolfe and ridden by Nick Heywood.
The Power of Love was second and Gurty was back in third. For Nick Heywood, the current NSW Country region’s most successful jockey, it was his first time to Adaminaby and he reported having enjoyed the day and the atmosphere.
Race two was the Cooma H Hardware – High Country Truss and Frames – Monaro Wool Shute Bell Class 1 Hcp and saw local hope Mia’s Dream fly from an outside barrier, stringing the field out and maintaining a good break into the straight. With jockey Rebecca Bronett Prag riding, and with 50 metres to go, race-caller Kel O’Rourke said Mia’s Dream was “running out of petrol vouchers”. Nonetheless she tried hard for trainer David Kelley to be nailed right on the line to run third, beaten by the John Rolfe trained Arctic Desert, ridden by Ellen Hennessey, and with Miss Bentley in second placing. There was only a head margin separating each horse.
The Kirshner Mackay Property & Livestock Benchmark 45 Hcp over 1300 metres was race three and saw a field of eight, with Capital Venture a late scratching after becoming unsettled in the barriers. In what was the best result of the day for local trainers, Walk Up Start, trained at Cooma by David Kelley and ridden very well by Rebecca Bronett Prag stormed to an almost two length victory over Bombala trainer ‘Skeet’ Walder’s Deadly Weapon and with Kitty Karine in third. There was only a nose margin separating second and third, and in fact from second to fifth it was very close overall.
Race 4 was the Leed Engineering Maiden Plate over 1400 metres and saw Political Power trained by Joe Cleary at Queanbeyan and ridden by Richard Bensley successful over the Kevin Byrne, Jindabyne trained Be Diplomatic and with Sacred Mistress, trained in Canberra by Luke Pepper, in third.
Adaminaby has a strong racing history, the first meeting was back in 1864, and Walk Up Start’s win on Saturday made just a little bit more sentimental history for the trainer. Having hobby-trained for over 30 years and used the same colours, white with red sleeves and cap, for that time, Kelley recently changed the colours to white with gold sleeves and cap. These colours last won on the Adaminaby, or other local tracks, about 70 years ago when used by the late R J (Bob) Britt, who trained at Adaminaby, one of his last horses called Bronzedale. Bob Britt was the current trainer’s maternal great-uncle.
The Cooma Cup and Sundowners Maiden Cup meeting will be held at Cooma Ti-Tree Racecourse on December 7. It promises to be a great day for racing and social interaction.
