Dad's Best Mate wins class 1 race

Snorkel (centre), ridden by Chris Whiteley, loved the wet at Callaghan Park yesterday, winning the Bank of Queensland Open Handicap (1100m).

CHRIS ISON CI--

SAVVY omen punters would have cashed-in on the Clint Garland trained Dad's Best Mate (Ric McMahon, $4.80) when the gelding raced away for an effortless win in the $10,000 Class 1 Handicap (1100m) at the Rockhampton races yesterday.

Youthful Clint and his trainer-father Jack Garland work as a close-knit team in the preparation of a sizeable string of racehorses at a property on the outskirts of Gracemere, so Dad's Best Mate was certainly a tip in itself.

Dad's Best Mate's win over Nedenburg (Adrian Coome, $11.00) and Ned's Outlaw (Scot Sheargold, $17.00) hardly surprised the pair with Clint declaring “he (Dad's Best Mate) will just win”.

Nor, for that matter, was enigmatic Kenilworth-based Craiglea Stud owner-breeder Stan Johnston surprised when pressed about the chances of the outsider of his pair of Class 5 (1100m) starters Craiglea Tunes ($2.35 favourite) or Falvalea (Carly-Mae Pye, $10).

Lo and behold, Johnston was on the ball as Falvalea, who he declared was “beautifully ridden by Carly-Mae” overwhelmed Craiglea Tunes at the straight's entrance to win by a half-length from New Journey (Ric McMahon, $4.20) with the favourite third.

Falvalea's win proved beyond any doubt that there is no sure-fire formula to winning a race as less than a week before yesterday's event she had been retired.

Battle scarred Carly-Mae Pye, 22, was certainly pleased.

Only last Saturday the capable 3kg-claiming apprentice returned to race riding after a lengthy lay-off from a broken collar bone and then on Tuesday she narrowly escaped serious injury when thrown and dragged along by a recreational horse.

“That's how my nose is so gravel-rashed, but that's all behind me now as I'm so pleased to be back winning again,” she said in recording her 25th career win.

Sir Echo (Davin Green, $11) proved to be yet another winning example of the unorthodox training method of working alongside a utility when the moody customer took out the Class 4 (2243m) for trainer Kistan Price who is based on a property on Rockhampton's outskirts.

“He does most of his training alongside the ute, but occasionally I ride him along the beach,” Price said before adding “he only really goes for Davin”.

Indeed so, as Ipswich-based Green has now ridden Sir Echo five times for three of the four wins from the six-year-old veteran's 32 starts.

Speaking of veterans, what about the long overdue win of Bundaberg trainer Ron Bartholdi's eight-year-old Frozen Time (Cassie Priest, $41) in the Maiden (1600m).

It came at the old-timer's 40th race start.

Jim O'Shea's vastly improved sprinting find Snorkel (Chris Whitely, $5) certainly had something on his six rivals in the Open (1100m) by swamping them over the concluding stages to win well from Toowoomba-trained Ima Joker (Kaylee Cross, $4.20).

Abirra suffered his second bleeding attack during the race and is now barred for life while Mackay jockey Dale Missen pleaded guilty to a careless-riding charge and is suspended for “three meetings”.