Meeting In Review 9 February 2023

Date: 10-Feb-2023

With conditions to suit, fast times were the order of the day at Thursday’s Ipswich Turf Club meeting.

800m races can often be a case of blink and you’ll miss them. Yesterday was a case of that with the two scampers producing closing 600m times of 31.62 seconds and 31.60 seconds. That’s low flying!

In fact, they were so fast we even saw a track record. Admittedly it was over 1670 metres which is a distance seldom used at the Bundamba circuit.

Other highlights on the day included apprentice jockey Cody Collis registering a winning double and a boil over in the opening race.

Eyeleftit Breaks Track Record

The Kylie and Corey Geran training partnership has several good gallopers in their stable such as Torbreck, Sammy and Vinasta to name just a few.

They may add Eyeleftit to their list of favourite horses thanks to her perfomance in winning Thursday’s TAB Class 1 Handicap over 1670 METRES.

The four-year-old mare was having just her eighth career start when she lined up in the middle-distance assessment. The market kept the Love Conquers All mare safe at $5.50 following her good effort to finish third at Dalby at her last start.

Eyeleftit was slow away and struggled to go early, settling second last and seven-lengths off the leader. Having many lengths to make up, gun apprentice jockey Angela Jones took off at the 600m mark, a move made famous by Jimmy Byrne.

The mare still had four lengths to make up halfway up the straight but sprouted wings in the last 100m to blow past her opponents and win easily by 1.8 lengths. It was a terrific ride by Jones and demonstrated what a difference she can make to the chances of a horse.

It was a scintillating finishing burst that not only delivered a second win for Eyeleftit but also the track record in a time of 1.41.09.

While a great achievement for a Class 1 horse, it must be stated that 1670m isn’t a distance regularly used at Ipswich. In fact, there have been very few instances in the history of the club.

However, you cannot take away the record from Team Geran and Eyeleftit’s connections.

Collis Registers Winning Double

Apprentice jockey Cody Collis is a relative newcomer to the South-East Queensland riding ranks having made the permanent move from North Queensland during the backend of last year.

The 19-year-old has made people take notice thanks to his ability in the saddle. That was certainly the case at Ipswich on Thursday with ‘Chip’ notching up a winning riding double.

Collis’ winning day started in race 2, the JOIN THE IPSWICH QUARTER BENCHMARK 62 Handicap over 800m.

The 2kg claimer partnered the Billy Healey-trained Gossip Torque in the scamper. With the benefit of the inside barrier, Gossip Torque flew out of the gates and took up the running. Collis looked to boot clear at the top of the straight but Single Memo struck back to drive late. While Gossip Torque was on tiring legs, she did enough to record a narrow win.

The second leg of Collis’ winning double came in the penultimate race of the day, the SIRROMET Class 4 Handicap.

Collis was aboard the Lindsay Hatch-trained No Going Back. The pair left the gates well in the 1350m contest to settle second in the run. No Going Back enjoyed a great run on the fence behind the leader My Snow Queen. While the leader tired in the straight, Collis’ mount was surging. The Toowoomba gelding picked up strongly in the final 100m to claim the win.

The young hoop is riding well at the moment and gave credit to those that have helped his career progress.

“It’s been a good start,” Collis said.

“I’ve been getting a lot of support from a lot of trainers, and it’s really helped me out.

“I appreciate all the trainers that have put me on and have supported me up until now.”

Another Big Priced Ipswich Winner

After many weeks of it happening, it seems customary now that there must be a big priced winner cause a boil over at our meetings.

That was again the case on Thursday when Where Ya Bean upset the hot pot Galifianakis in the opening event of the day, the FOLLOW @IPSWICHTURFCLUB Maiden Plate.

Galifianakis was considered almost a certainty of winning the 1670m race by the market with punters backing him as a $1.45 favourite. However, nobody told Where Ya Bean the race script.

The Shaun Dwyer-trained three-year-old was having his seventh start and up until Thursday hadn’t really shown he had any idea what the racing caper was all about.

Where Ya Bean’s official starting price was $61 but close to $100 for the win was available on some totes. He had no chance, right?

The son of Spill The Beans was slow away from the outside gate but jockey Matthew Powell allowed him to get into his rhythm. Powell rolled forward but couldn’t get in and found himself three-deep but handy.

Where Ya Bean travelled well in the run which allowed Powell to take on the leaders as heads turned for home. He dashed clear in the straight before fending off the late challenge of the race favourite to win by just under half a length.

It was an impressive display to run on so strongly given the wide run he had. With his first win out of the way, the penny may drop and he can go on to win more races. Hopefully next time he wins, one of his owners has a few dollars on!

Horses To Follow

Race 3 – Mofilo caught the eye rocketing home to finish fifth in the 800m Maiden Plate. He clocked 10.82 for the final 200m which was the quickest of the day. It was just his first start so he’ll take improvement and be better over further next start.

Race 7 – Sabalenka has returned from a spell in great order. The Rob Heathcote-trained mare showed a good turn of foot to win over 1200m. They took the blinkers off today and it made a big difference. She’s a handy mare in good form that looks capable of winning in town.

By Craig Sheppard

Back to list