DARREN Jones made the most of fluctuating fortune to help Ballintine score a belated win at the first day of the Walcha carnival on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tamworth jockey was caught wide early in Friday’s Walcha Road Hotel Class 3 Handicap (1440m) after the six-year-old gelding had jumped well.
“I drove him out to get a position,” Jones told trainer Lesley Jeffriess but then was left out wide as his opposition all sat back.
“I thought I might as well go to the front.
“Once he got there he travelled beautifully and was never going to get beaten.”
Ballintine outstayed the George Woodward-trained Grande Zariz for a three quarter length win with Jewel’s Shadow two and half lengths away third.
It was the gelding son of Latarmiss’s fourth win at his 49th start.
“I can’t remember his last win,” Jeffriess said.
“He ran a good race at Tamworth but then he was 300 yards off them at Glen and was beaten at Armidale (by Jefferson Park in Walcha Cup Prelude).
“He didn’t handle the hard track at Armidale either.”
