Mid North Coast jockey Ben Looker was a regular rider of Grafton seven-year-old gelding Belflyer until a race fall on Ramornie Handicap day in July and since has watched the galloper run a close second without him in the Ramornie and then beat him in the $1.3 million The Kosciuszko at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
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Ironically, he told me after he was hospitalised with concussion that despite five wins and a couple of placings on Belflyer in country cups and on the Sunshine Coast that he rated the gelding second only to Port Macquarie gelding Victorem which he won on in the $500,000 Country Final at The Championships at Randwick in April.
Belflyer came from the rear at odds of $71 to pass Victorem ($4.40, fifth) in the straight to score by about three lengths from Looker’s mount.
It was probably a case of one galloper handling the heavy conditions and the other didn’t.
No doubt he was disappointed with Victorem’s run and happy for trainer John Shelton’s win, the gelding’s 13th in 55 starts for prizemoney and bonuses now worth about $970,000.
As for being replaced by jockey Bobby El-issa on Belflyer in the Ramornie, Looker said graciously: ”He rode the horse good…he gave it every hope.”
As for Victorem, Looker was happy to be on the well fancied four-year-old which was unable to show its turn of foot in the conditions. But that’s racing!
Victorem’s prizemoney of $32,500 for fifth was some consolation but its Port trainer Jenny Graham’s other runner, Awesome Pluck (backed from $15 to $9), owned by Wauchope’s Dale Miller, enjoyed the track conditions and was beaten less than a length in running third.
It picked up $130,000 for its effort to take earnings to just over $230,000 from two wins and four placings from seven starts.
Also in the race was Fuel from the Taree stable of Wayne Wilkes and its 10th was worth a handy $16,000.
It would pay to follow Victorem and Awesome Pluck as they have class written all over them.
And Looker is going pretty well nearing 30 winners so far this season, despite not riding when being treated for concussion for about a month, and he could again notch 100 winners for the season.
Consistent riding
Wilkes was happy that Fuel had a late inclusion at Randwick but before he fronted he took two gallopers to the Jungle Juice Cup meeting at Cessnock on Friday.
“Mr Consistency”—five-year-old gelding Sniponet—grabbed another $6000 to his prizemoney when second in the cup and earnings on the day swelled to $9900 when Lucciola Belle did the same in the next race.
Wishing for a speedy recovery
Leading Port Macquarie trainer Neil Godbolt has had an upsetting week no-one would want.
His mother-in-law Val Day, wife of former prominent jockey Max Day, passed away on Port Macquarie Cup day, October 5.
He then had a heart attack the following Tuesday and was flown to the Prince Of Wales Hospital in Sydney early Wednesday for treatment.
At the time of writing, he was in a stable condition and was expected to come back to a hospital in Port Macquarie early this week.
Meanwhile, Alison, daughter of Neil and Maxine, and her husband Simon Thompson and staff, are looking after the 18 racehorses in work.
Racing folk pay their condolences about the passing and wish Neil, a former premiership winning jockey and trainer, a speedy recovery.
