Trainer Owen Sharpe off the mark

Veteran conditioner Owen Sharpe earned his first win for the season when his six-year-old bay gelding Dunrobin won the opening event over 6 furlongs (1,200m).

Stepping down from Overnight Allowance company to tackle high claiming ($850,000-$800,000), Dunrobin ( Blue Pepsi Lodge – En Vogue) broke well under Shane Ellis and after a couple of strides leaving the starting gates was contesting for the lead with Reigning King (Christopher Mamdeen).

Navigating the half-mile (800m), Ellis put Dunrobin in front and although challenged by Bad Boy Trump (Tevin Foster) approaching the home bend the four-year-old bay gelding held his gallop to the wire, scoring by 4 ½ lengths to deliver the victory without a fuss.

Mr Ambassador (Anthony Thomas) came through for second place with Reigning King getting third place and Bad Boy Trump fourth.

After splits of 23.3 and 46.4, the final time for the distance was recorded at 1:14.1.

The ‘ Cat ‘ is still purring

Sunshine Cat, bred, owned and trained by Carl Anderson, continued her brilliant run of form in the 2019 racing season as from her fifth start this year, Sunshine Cat romped to her third win in the Charles Hussey OD Restricted Allowance event coming down the 5-furlong straight course.

With champion jockey Anthony Thomas in the saddle, Sunshine Cat ( Twilight Time – Burning Clearance) settled along with Formal Justice (Raddesh Roman), Lady in the Arena (Javaniel Patterson) and Union Four (Kiaman McGregor) behind leader Princess Statistic (Matthew Bennett).

Approaching the quarter pole, Sunshine Cat began to make ground on the leader before taking over inside the final furlong (200m) to win by 5 ½ lengths going further and further away from the pack.

Formal Justice also came on strong in the last quarter for second place as Princess Statistic weakened to eventually finish third. The final time was 1:01.4 backed with splits 23.3 and 47.2.

Clearly Ours wins Drumbeat Trophy

Clearly Ours, owned and trained by Dennis Lee, easily brushed aside rivals to win the $600,000 Drumbeat Trophy co-feature over the 5-furlong (1000m) straight course.

The ever-consistent, nine-year-old bay mare romped home by 5 ¾ lengths ahead of rivals in a good 1:01.1 for $250,000-$200,000 claimers.

It was Clearly Ours’ third win for the season from five starts along with two second place finishes.

Leading rider Christopher Mamdeen broke Clearly Ours well as she matched strides with Awesome Cat (Hakeem Pottinger) and Miss Nancy (Jordan Barrett). Heading towards the quarter pole, Miss Nancy assumed the lead just ahead of Clearly Ours but the latter powered away to score an easy win. Miss Nancy finished second and Lady Carmen (Shavon Townsend) third.

“ Clearly Ours ran well and the jockey did a good job. She is better than these and the most consistent horse in the line-up. She is not a very sound horse but I did well with her for the three weeks I had her,” Lee said.

Back-to-back wins for Resurgence

Four-year-old grey gelding Resurgence seemed to have hit top gear at the moment as the Ian Parsard trainee romped to his second consecutive win in the Cecil Chambers claiming ($450,000-$400,000) event run over 5 ½ furlongs (1,100m).

Showing a lack of speed in his previous races, Resurgence was more alert this time around as leading rider Christopher Mamdeen got him into the pace from early. Resurgence sat in fourth position behind Zi Beast (Tevin Foster), Rockdale (Jerome Innis) and Cruising Motion (Omar Walker) at the off before taking over while circling the the half-mile (800m) turn.

Resurgence then turned on the pressure in deep stretch and blasted home to score by 5 ½ lengths in a time of 1:07.4. Poker Star (Robert Halledeen), who was slowly into stride, came on strong at the end for second place ahead of Rockdale and Cruising Motion.

Nuclear Thunder on the move

After two previous encouraging runs, Nuclear Thunder was awarded for his consistency with an emphatic 1 ¾ length win in the Arthur “Tony” Baylis Restricted Allowance event over 5 ½ furlongs.

Nuclear Thunder ( Nuclear Wayne – Royal Beauty) rallied to beat rivals easily under Linton Steadman in a time of 1:08.4.

Nuclear Thunder, trained by Phillip Elliott, broke sharply for the lead along with Young Boy Eddy, who was ahead of Parajet (Phillip Parchment) and Sacrifice (Raddesh Roman).

Running the half-mile turn, Nuclear Thunder was taken off the front end, holding in fourth as Young Boy Eddy went merrily along with Parajet and Sacrifice.

At the three-eighths pole, Parajet took over proceedings and brought the field into the lane but Steadman reproduced his mount and Nuclear Thunder came through at the furlong pole and skittered away to earn the win. Sacrifice did well for second place ahead of Fearless Treblav (Shane Ellis) in third spot.

Six horses claimed

Six horses were claimed on the 10-race Hall of Fame Race Day programme.

Anthony Dixon claimed Smokescreen for himself from Alford Brown; Oneil Markland claimed Jon Marshall for owner Michael Howard from Ryan Darby and Gregory Forsyth claimed Clearly Ours for himself from Dennis Lee from the sixth race. All claims were made for $250,000.

In the seventh race, Oneil Markland claimed Poker Star for himself from Stanley Findlay for $450,000.