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Meeting In Review – Thursday 13 March 2025 New
Date: 14-Mar-2025
Thursday’s Ipswich meeting saw the apprentices get the wood on their more experienced counterparts, winning four races to three.
Emily Lang kicked off the day for the young hoops in the opening event when she piloted the Kevin Kemp-trained Window Tapper to victory.
With a wide barrier to contend with, Lang drove hard early to cross and settle second in the 1200m Maiden contest.
The Under The Louvre mare peeled off roughie Twilight Sparkle’s back entering the straight and did enough in the run home to hold on for a neck win.
It’s not often we see saddlecloth number 20 salute at Ipswich but that was the case in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Handicap over 1200m.
Invisible Target, who was the seventh emergency for the race, was slow to begin and found himself towards the back of the field shortly after settling.
As the pace slackened approaching the 600m, apprentice Cobi Vitler too advantage to advance her position and was just two lengths off the leader upon straightening.
While he wanted to hang in late, the Rochelle Pereira-trained gelding let down powerfully to win by half a length.
It was Vitler’s third win at Ipswich this season and kept her unbeaten record at the track intact.
If you had backed each of Vitler’s rides you’d have enjoyed an amazing 268% return on investment.
La Amigo was considered one of the outsiders of the 1200m Open Handicap field but a bold move by apprentice Rob Thorburn saw him salute.
Thorburn settled second aboard the seven-year-old gelding before pinching a break on his rivals at the top of the straight.
La Amigo’s strides were shortening late and the line couldn’t come soon enough, but he did enough to hang on for a neck victory.
It looked like the apprentices were going to dominate the meeting after winning the first three races, but Justin Huxtable was having none of that.
The strong jockey rode Hidden Nugget hard early to find the front in the 800m scamper.
Darren Bell’s son of Spirit Of Boom gave his rivals a cold as he showed too much speed for them in the run home to win easily by 2.6 lengths.
It was Hidden Nugget’s second career win and kept his unbeaten record over the Ipswich 800m intact after he won on debut here three starts ago.
Huxtable’s reduced Angela Jones’ lead in this season’s Ipswich Jockey premiership to two and took his win tally to 13.
Olivia Kendal made the most of the inside gate in the Benchmark 70 Handicap over 800m to drive forward early and lead on My Eloise.
The Beau Gorman-trained Capitalist mare looked anything but the $21 joint outsider of the field as she dashed clear to win by a length.
Kendal’s win was the fourth of the day for the apprentice crew.
Salt Lake Betty produced a tough win in the Class 3 Handicap.
Former Ipswich premiership winning jockey Sam Collett pushed forward after the gates opened but couldn’t cross and found herself settling outside the lead.
The Desleigh Forster-trained mare looked to be under pressure entering the straight but found plenty with Collett’s urging her along to win by a neck.
The final race of the day saw Prado and Who Ordered Dafish duke it out for favouritism.
The market had it right with the pair finishing one, two but it was Prado who was the more impressive performance.
The Diane Murphy-trained gelding settled near the tail under Anthony Allen and enjoyed the fierce speed in front.
He last entering the straight but let down powerfully to give his opposition wind burn as he sailed by for a 1.8 length win.
Racing returns to Ipswich next Friday, the 21st of March.
By Craig Sheppard
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