Monday, October 1, 2018
Sophie’s Moment, off the scene for the first five months this year due to injury before winning three successive races, shrugged off a four month losing streak when defeating kennelmate Wise Stella in the final of the Metal Worx grade five series (400 m) at Tara Raceway on Sunday.
Trained at Compton by Tracie Price, Sophie’s Moment and Wise Stella matched motors for much of the journey before the former finished the stronger to win by three-quarters of a length in 23.24 seconds.
This was the second leg of a treble for Price – his eighth at Tara Raceway this year – his winning day kicking off in the South Eastern Hotel Maiden Stake (400 m) with Cee Me Snoop.
Having his second start, the son of Cosmic Rumble overcame an ordinary start from box one to chase Dodge Coupe into the home straight before finishing strongly to score by 3½ lengths in a tidy 23.26 seconds.
Both Sophie’s Moment and Cee Me Snoop were bred by their trainer and are out of Winter Classic winners Stylish Moment (2014) and Cee Me Burst (2015) who were also trained by Price.
The treble came up in the Williams Crane Hire Stake (512 m) when Swift Limes won his second race for the month at Tara Raceway after finding the front going into the first turn and never looking in any danger from then on, eventually running out a 3¾ length winner in 30.01 seconds.
Meanwhile, Kongorong trainer John Little landed his 12th winner this year at Tara Raceway when Bungaloo Thor opened his 600 metre winning account at his sixth start over the middle-distance.
A member of the Addis Boy x Camo’s Prinny litter that Little also bred, Bungaloo Thor found the front in the home straight the first time and defied the odds on favourite Jimary Siesta to run him down, finishing 2¾ lengths clear on the line in a respectable 35.70 seconds.
Later in the day, Little’s warm favourite Springvale Alysa found trouble on the first turn in the Greyhound-Data.Com Stake (512 m) before finishing third to Monty Wilson’s Seabrook Noisey and Big Lebowski, one consolation being that she is still eligible for Sunday’s grade five series over 512 metres.
SA COUNTRY CUP LINE-UP FINALISED
Following race meetings at Strathalbyn on Friday and Gawler on Sunday night, the field for the SA Country Cup (515 m), to be run at Angle Park on Friday, October 12 (Adelaide Cup night) has now been finalised.
Farmin defeated Destini Rocket by a neck in 31.82 seconds over 536 metres at Strathalbyn while Gawler’s decider (531 m) went down to the wire with only a head separating Reiko Rocketta and Fantastic Chief in 31.21 seconds.
The field (not in box order) for the $7375 SA Country Cup is – Port Augusta: Tarwyn Park (Yvonne Maxwell), Crimson Sally (Don Turner); Mount Gambier: Hutch (Robert Halliday), Paraphernalia (Jeff Guy); Strathalbyn: Farmin (Lauren Harris), Destini Rocket (Tony Hinrichsen); Gawler: Reiko Rocketta (Troy Murray), Fantastic Chief (Ben Rawlings).