News
Meeting In Review – Saturday 16 March 2024
Date: 19-Mar-2024
Cody ‘Chip’ Collis had the luck of the Irish on his side at Saturday’s St Patrick’s Day meeting.
The talented apprentice has not long been back in the saddle after spending nearly a year away from the sport but that didn’t stop him from claiming a winning treble.
After riding a winner on his first day back at Ipswich last Saturday, Collis returned for five rides with his first win coming in the Maiden Plate over 800m.
The 20-year-old teamed up with the Greg Cornish-trained Dawyn’s Choice who started from the outside barrier in the field of 10.
The four-year-old mare was having her first race start and showed brilliant speed to fire across and lead.
At no time did the Husson mare look in any danger of losing with Collis taking it easy on her late as she cruised to a 1.3 length win.
Collis’ second win came aboard Bean Rocking in the 1200m Class 2 Handicap where once again, the 2kg claiming hoop had to deal with the outside gate.
The Mark Currie-trained son of Spill The Beans worked forward to sit outside the leader Monday Monday with the two horses rolling along at a decent pace.
Typical of a Currie conditioned horse, he proved too strong in the closing stages despite a tough run to win by a neck.
Collis wrapped up his treble in the final event of the day when he partnered the Stu Kendrick-trained Capital Cee.
On paper, the three-year-old gelding looked like a class above his rivals dropping back in grade and that’s how the 1350m race panned out.
Making full use of the inside barrier, Collis settled in front before increasing his lead on the turn.
The race was as good as over when Capital Cee had them off the bit and under pressure prior to straightening.
He went on to win by 2.71 lengths with the final margin perhaps flattering the chasers as it was a truly dominant performance.
While Collis led the charge, two other apprentices helped themselves to wins on the eight-race card.
One of those apprentices was Casey Waddell who provided Le Heros with a great front running ride to victory in the Benchmark 70 Handicap over 1666m.
The Paul Duncan-trained gelding jumped straight to the front from the inside gate.
He came under siege in the straight but produced plenty to not only hold off the challengers but draw clear to win by just over half a length.
Fresh off a winning double last Saturday, Emily Lang was again in the winner’s circle on the weekend.
Lang rode Shalaa’s Moment for her bosses Steve O’Dea and Matt Hoysted in the Benchmark 62 Handicap over 800m.
It was a one act affair with the four-year-old mare sitting off them before unleashing a powerful finishing burst to put her rivals away in the blink of an eye and win by 4.1 lengths.
The win was Lang’s 16th for the season and gave her the outright lead in the Ipswich Jockeys Premiership for 2023/24.
Lang came agonisingly close to adding a second win on the day in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Handicap with Encrypted Elegance.
The Encryption filly looked home and hosed after opening a big lead but capitulated in the final 100m and was swamped by the fast-finishing Toby Edmonds-trained Wahine Galaxy.
On any other day, trainer Kevin Kemp and jockey Nozi Tomizawa would have been the stars of the meeting.
The Toowoomba tandem combined for a winning double in races one and two on the program.
Their first win came in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate with The Author.
The Written By filly had the best form in the race and Tomizawa rode her, accordingly, jumping straight to the front and controlling the race for a 2.83 length victory.
The second half of Kemp and Tomizawa’s double didn’t come as easily in the 1350m Benchmark 78 Handicap.
Start Strutting was held up and badly in need of run entering the straight, but Tomizawa finally managed to get the split on the fence to burst through and win by a head.
Racing returns to Ipswich on Thursday the 21st of March.
By Craig Sheppard
Back to list