KURTLEY, who might be headed to a December 5 Mudgee Cup, played another part in Sam Clenton’s successful racing season when the Tamworth-trained gelding won at Canterbury on Wednesday.
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The Leon Davies-trained gelding son of Dane Shadow, who had finished a close second to Oh My Papa at Tamworth on November 17, won for the seventh time in 27 starts with Clenton aboard.
The 21-year-old apprentice had won earlier in the day on the Bjorn Baker-trained One More.
That was a heat of the Rising Star Series for apprentices, a series Clenton now has a clear lead in after winning three of the six heats.
She is also hoping to ride at Dubbo next week.
“There’s another heat out there and I have a good ride in that,” she said yesterday.
“I’ve got a good lead in the Rising Star.”
Clenton is apprenticed to her partner, Tim McIntosh, at Muswellbrook but is about to “go on loan” to Kris Lees at Broadmeadow and rode Malachite into second place at Wyong yesterday for Lees.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said of her loan period with the leading Newcastle trainer.
“Hopefully it will open a few doors for me.”
While she has outridden her country claim, she still claims 2kg at the provincials and 3kg in Sydney.
She is also riding in Sydney today when she partners Jason Deamer’s Never Got A Vote at Warwick Farm.
“He’s going for a hat-trick of wins,” Clenton said.
“I’ve had five rides on him for three wins. He’s a nice horse, one on the way up.”
She, too, is on the way up and her win at Canterbury on One More on Wednesday gave her an 11-point lead in the Rising Star over Serg Lisnyy (13 points), Kasie Stanley and Jessica Taylor (8 points).
She said Kurtley raced well too.
“It was a good run,” she said of a gelding who had not won since the 2013 Dubbo Cup.
“They ran along at a good tempo and he had to dig deep.”
Davies was full of praise for both his gelding and Clenton.
“She is riding unbelievably well at the moment,” Davies said.
“It was good tough win too.
“I’ve finally got him fit.
“He’s had two good trials and now tough runs just to get there.
“Hopefully he’ll go on with it now.”
He was hoping to send him to the Mudgee Cup but “he might get too much weight now”.
“He’d probably get weighted out of that so we’ll go back to Sydney or maybe Brisbane.”
He has now earned $174,850 in prizemoney as well as $45,000 in BOBS.
“His mother (Blue Lyric) has been pretty good – three city winners now from her four foals to race.”
Davies doesn’t have a runner at Muswellbrook today and the weekend off from racing but then aims at the Gunnedah Christmas Hams meeting (December 6) before Mudgee and Coffs Harbour.
While Clenton is riding at Warwick Farm today, McIntosh has one runner at today’s Muswellbrook meeting.
“A maidener,” McIntosh said. “A quiet day.”
He has about 15 in work but a number of those are “young ones” being prepared to race.
