Ben Price, the 22-year-old son of Compton trainer Tracie Price and now a trainer in his own right, looks to hold a strong hand in this Sunday’s Williams Crane Hire Christmas Cup final (512 metres) at Tara Raceway.
The Price-trained Huntsman, a son of Koblenz and Maddison Kaye, couldn’t have been more impressive in the second of two heats last Sunday when leading all the way from box two.
On the line he had 10½ lengths to spare over handy type Kia Keeping, trained at Hamilton by Lorraine Goodwin, in a quick 29.66 seconds. Also through to the final are Borough Banker and Gus Limes.
Raced by Price in partnership with Tanner Ahl, the fawn dog has now won a total of 18 races – four of those at Murray Bridge and Mount Gambier after being purchased in late August by the pair.
In the first heat, High Cube, trained at Portland by Robert Halliday, settled in third spot behind early leader Blue Khaki and King Ron before finishing strongly for a win over King Ron and Blue Khaki. Swift Gift, who won the Labour Day Cup in October, has also qualified for the final.
High Cube, a son of Flying Riciardo and Miami Fernando, boasts a terrific strike rate after having now won 12 races from 31 starts at Tara Raceway. And his trainer will be hoping for another Christmas Cup win after Hutch had been successful back in 2018 over Cryer’s Plugger.
Blue Khaki will also go into the final as a handy second string for Price. The blue son of Shima Shine x Baby Talk has won seven races for his young trainer whose father won last year’s Christmas Cup with Minnie’s My Mum.
The Christmas Cup was first run in 2011 when won by Napoleon Wiz who had been trained at Allendale East by David Peckham.
Following two heats last week and complementing the Williams Crane Hire Christmas Cup final this Sunday will be the Peter Whitehead Memorial Maiden final (400 m).
And Wattle Flat owner Geoff Collins was over last week for the maiden heats with the Rosalyn Hume trained first-starter Kuebiko who certainly doesn’t lack for anything when it comes to bloodlines.
By Aussie Infrared, the black dog is out of Swifty who had been bred by Gary Peach. Now, while she won only seven races, the daughter of Aston Dee Bee and Weeping Lass certainly boasts a winning damline.
Littermates include Silver Brute who raced on 100 occasions for 63 wins and close to $300,000 in prize money. Action Girl raced 84 times for 50 wins and $236,000. And Mobile Legend went around 47 times for 20 wins and $190,000.
Bred by Collins, Kuebiko drew box seven in the first heat of the Whitehead Memorial. And he quickly found the front when impressing on debut with a four length win over Gary Hunt’s Sally Shine and Tracie Price’s Rock It Kathy in 23.42 seconds.
In the second heat, the Price-trained Compton Stella went straight to the front from box eight and ran away to a 4¾ length win over Michael Niele’s Appellant and Peter Crawley’s Opal Limes in 23.28 seconds.
This Sunday will mark the seventh running of the Whitehead Memorial. Previous winners have been Hey You Guys, High On Life, Compton Robbie, Smiling Stan, Sally Limes and Elle Limes.
Meanwhile, Wynn Vale-based Olivia Helgeson, about to embark on a nursing career at the Lyell McEwen Hospital in Elizabeth, trained her first winner when former Victorian stayer Paw Louis was successful in the Cadillac Racing Stake (732 m).
Coming off The Meadows middle-distance and staying form, the son of JS Flamin Ace and Dyna Adria was always on the pace prior to finding the front down the back the second time around.
From then on, Paw Louis was always travelling like a winner, eventually running out a 3¼ length winner over Zipping Grande in 44.07 seconds.
The black dog is owned by Adrian Kafkoudas, along with Tim Aloisi whose dog Zipping Neutron still holds the Tara Raceway 732 metre track record in a time of 42.73 seconds which was set on July 23, 2023.
And Littlefoot, following a win in last month’s Newman McDonnell Memorial (512 m), successfully stepped up in distance in the Gordon Refrigeration Mixed Stake (600 m) for sisters Elysia Bartholomew and Deb Hicks.
The daughter of Blue Moon Rising and Galactic Athena – all 24 kilograms of her – led all the way from box one and held out the Peckham-trained Fantastic Helga for a three-quarter length win in 35.57 seconds.