14/04/16
Well after the somewhat forgetful day that was Weetwood Handicap and Toowoomba Cup day 2015 after dramas associated with the track rating starting off as a heavy 8 and finishing as a soft 6, hopefully things will pan out better this year. In an embarrassment of monumental proportions for the Toowoomba Turf Club on their one big race day of the year in 2015, the first race winner last year, Girls Command, ridden by Tim Bell, broke the track record for 1200 metres on a heavy 8 track, so “they” obviously went up with the wrong track rating on the day. Amazingly Girls Command has only ran one more placing (a win) in 11 subsequent starts.
And interestingly those connected with the winner of both the Weetwood Handicap and Toowoomba Cup in 2016 will be hoping that their winner has more subsequent racetrack success than the winner of each race in 2015 did.
The 2015 Weetwood was run on 2 May and was won by 15/1 chance Mr Favulous and he’s only won one race in the 50 weeks since – and that victory was when he fell in at Doomben in an Open company race. In fact on closer inspection of his form, that Doomben victory is the only time that he’s run a place in nine subsequent starts to the 2015 Weetwood. Mr Favulous is back to defend his crown this year and has drawn barrier 12. Local jockey Ron Goltz has the sit this year whereas Jeff Lloyd rode the horse to victory last year. This year Jeff Lloyd is riding the short priced Sydney visitor Coolring.
The 2015 Toowoomba Cup winner Pornichet amazingly only won one race subsequent to scoring at Clifford Park also. He went straight from the Toowoomba Cup, which has no black type status, to win the Group 1 Doomben Cup at his next start and as happens “the boys” in mainstream media all thought the second coming was nigh when he won two Queensland races in a row. Unfortunately Pornichet never won another race after the Doomben Cup. In fact in four of his six starts after the Doomben Cup he ran unplaced.
So I’m thinking if the 2015 results are anything to go by, winning either the Weetwood or Toowoomba Cup, which these days is run on a Strathayr surface, possibly puts the mock on the victor of each race.
I did some research and discovered that interestingly a plethora of horses that contested the 2015 Toowoomba Cup won by Pornichet have never won another race. From the Toowoomba Cup last year, each of the following horses that contested the race have never won a race since – Wish Come True, Freton, Secret Garden, Hi Son and Markout. And judging by the look of this year’s atrocious Toowoomba Cup field the same scenario will unfold in the 12 months subsequent to this year’s race. Justracing understands that the Sky Channel trackside audio boom which can tape the sound of thundering hooves, jockeys yelling out and so on, will be switched off when this race is being run, so that animal rights activists can’t record the “e-orr, e-orr” squealing noises of most of the Toowoomba Cup combatants as the runners slowly make their way up the home straight and use this in current affairs programs to show how thoroughbreds have been cross-bred in recent years with donkey stallions. And that’s just on the first lap.
So lots of horses never won another race after the Toowoomba Cup of 2015, but the vast majority of sprinters that competed in the Weetwood Handicap last year have won a race since. In fact the only two that haven’t, have been the 3/1 favourite from that race – Mount Nebo – and the Toowoomba trained Kempelly.
Here are some interesting points in respect to past Weetwood Handicap winners.
Firebox won 22 races in his career including 16 in Open company. He won the Weetwood in 1965. By Boxwood, the stallion that also sired Queensland star Earlwood (Queensland Derby, two Doomben Cups, Queensland Guineas), Firebox was certainly an adaptable galloper as apart from winning a Weetwood Handicap on the grass, he also won an Albion Park 2000 on the sand circuit at Albion Park.
Plenty of horses have won the Weetwood twice since say 1960. High Prince won the Weetwood in both 1961 and 1963. The Ken Waterford trained Red Shah won consecutive versions of the race in 1966 and 1967 and on both occasions Frank Treen rode the horse. The speedy Wine And Song for trainer Jim Griffiths and jockey Merv Wrigley won in both 1969 and 1970. The flashy chestnut Combo got home twice for trainer Billy Neilsen who also trained Fire Box that I mentioned earlier, firstly in 1974 for Terry Tewes, then for Mel Schumacher in 1975. Trainer Kevin Kemp and jockey Stathi Katsidis had a wonderful association where the Weetwood was concerned and they combined to win with Tellem in both 2005 and 2007. The latest horse to win two Weetwood Handicaps was Miss Imagica. She won in 2012 and 2013 when the course proper was a cushion track and in an all-local affair the mare was trained by Michael Nolan and two different Toowoomba jockeys were employed for steering duties. Nori Yamada rode the mare to victory in 2012 whilst Skye Bogenhuber, the first female jockey to ever win a Toowoomba premiership, won on the mare in 2013.
Since 1990 I would deem the “above average gallopers” that have won the Weetwood have been Tiny’s Finito (1991), Seawinne (1995), Kidman’s Cove (1997), Startell (2001) and the subsequent Group 1 Oakleigh Plate winner at Caulfield – Swiss Ace in 2008.
Jockey Stathi Katsidis has the extraordinary distinction of winning the Weetwood five times between the Year 2000 and 2007 inclusive – as per the undermentioned table.
From 2001 inclusive to the present day, local trainer Kevin Kemp has trained four winners – Startell (2001), Tellem (2005 and 2007) and Typhoon Red (2014). This year he is represented again by roughie Kempelly.
Here’s a list of Weetwood Handicap winners from the Year 2000 up to present day:
YEAR
WINNER
JOCKEY
TRAINER
WEIGHT
2016
?
2015
Mr Favulous
J. Lloyd
D. Baker
54.0
2014
Typhoon Red
N. Tomizawa
K. Kemp
55.0
2013
Miss Imagica
S. Bogenhuber
M. Nolan
55.0
2012
Miss Imagica
N. Yamada
M. Nolan
54.0
2011
Lucky Leak
B. El-issa
P. Sexton
56.0
2010
Poor Judge
C. Munce
N. Hilton
56.0
2009
Voice Commander
T. Angland
N. Olive
55.0
2008
Swiss Ace
K. Pope
M. Mair
54.0
2007
Tellem
S. Katsidis
K. Kemp
56.5
2006
October Grey
M. Cahill
M. Brosnan
53.0
2005
Tellem
S. Katsidis
K. Kemp
53.0
2004
Devil
S. Katsidis
G. Osborne
54.5
2003
Ceffyl
J. Byrne
R. Maund
55.5
2002
Ours
J. Taylor
T. Webb
51.0
2001
Startell
S. Katsidis
K. Kemp
52.5
2000
Vacen Lee
S. Katsidis
A. Doyle
53.0
I’ve also put together a list of the winners of the Toowoomba Cup from the Year 2000 to 2014 inclusive – and that list reads:
YEAR
WINNER
JOCKEY
TRAINER
WEIGHT
2016
?
2015
Pornichet
T. Bell
G. Waterhouse
60.5
2014
Military Move
R. McMahon
S. Ritchie
59.5
2013
Bang On
S. Bogenhuber
T. Gollan
54.0
2012
Musashi of Mieko
B. Wallace
J. Wallace
54.0
2011
Humma
L. Cassidy
R. Heathcote
58.0
2010
Yield Curve
S. Scriven
K. Carroll
59.0
2009
Jussemi
S. Katsidis
R. Lipp
53.5
2008
Sir Sensible
A. Pattillo
R. Lipp
54.0
2007
Adavale Hornet
M. Price
I. Duke
56.5
2006
Precise Timing
T. Treichel
R. Stitt
59.0
2005
Rue The Saint
J. McKinnon
M. Flanigan
53.0
2004
Up The Bid
J. Sharp
T. Andersen
54.0
2003
Kugelhopf
J.P. Stanley
H. Norman
55.0
2002
Regal Tycoon
K. Pope
B. Thornton
51.0
2001
Tis Love
J. Byrne
M. Nolan
53.5
2000
Director’s Special
S. Seamer
R. Lipp
51.0
The Toowoomba Cup was first run way back in 1919, one year after World War 1 ended, so it’s not long until the centenary of the race. Maybe the Toowoomba Turf Club will invite Justracing and his besotted bride to be special guests on the centenary day for all his wonderful assistance in promoting the club over the years? Hopefully by then Justracing will have been admitted to the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame and/or have had an Order of Australia bestowed on him. The citation for the Order of Australia award could read, “For services to the racing industry in the last 20 years and in particular for placing the three codes on the Internet and for being the only entity in Australia to advertise the sport on billboards on multiple main highways at the one time and for assisting racing administrators to be better at their job via offering wonderful and constructive criticism, almost on a daily basis, most of which the said administrators rejected at the time, before realizing about a decade later that Justracing was right all along. And by showing remarkable super human grit and determination for enduring the personal attacks of so many website detractors over two decades and still managing the occasional smile”.
Anyway I digress – there’s always the Toowoomba Golf Club for a really good feed and company in lieu, if that Toowoomba Turf Club invite never happened. Back to the score at the Test and the classiest winner of the Toowoomba Cup was probably the 1945 winner Abruzzi. He had the remarkable distinction of winning the Weetwood Handicap one year earlier. Abruzzi won 20 races in his career and was considered by many locals to be a better horse than the recognised Toowoomba champion Bernborough. Abruzzi met Bernborough in races on six occasions and Abruzzi finished in front of Bernborough on four of those six occasions. Whilst Abruzzi won at Eagle Farm, Doomben, Albion Park and Ipswich, his barrier manners were so bad that he was barred at one point in time. He won with crushing weights at the Clifford Park track in Toowoomba lumping up to 71kgs. Most of the sooky excuses for racehorses will squeal their way up the home straight with the assistance of oxygen masks this year with just 54kgs – a massive 17kgs less.
Only one horse, Navleigh has won three Toowoomba Cups and he even had the audacity to win them in successive years – 1956/57/58 – when ridden by top local jockey Benny Tebb for trainer P.J. Lee. In more recent times the only horse to win the race twice was the John Wallace trained Distancia which won in two consecutive years, firstly in 1986 when ridden by Paul Hamblin and in 1987 by Danny Williams.
In respect of the Toowoomba Cup, the most successful trainer in recent times has undoubtedly been local mentor Rex Lipp. He has won the race four times since 1999 with Gene’s Interest (1999 – Brad Stewart), Director’s Special (2000- Scott Seamer), Sir Sensible (2008 – Tony Pattillo) and Jussemi (2009 – Stathi Katsidis).
And today on my www.brisbaneracing.com.au website there are over 40 fully captioned photos paying tribute to past Weetwood winners and their jockey and trainer. If that’s not Hall of Shame – sorry Fame – and Order of Australia stuff, well I’m stuffed if I know what is.