Bendemeer trainer Jane Clement enjoyed winning the first race at the Barbarians Cox Plate race day on Saturday.
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With a track rating of Heavy 8 and with drizzling rain all day at the Armidale Jockey Club, three 1100m races were contested while the other distances were 1400m, 1900m and 1300m.
In the 1400m Craig Ball Bricklaying Maiden Plate, the Clement-trained Miami Jetstream was the third favourite behind Double Toast and Just Say No (NZ) after third had been Miami Jetstream’s best placing.
Having gained placings of fifth and seventh at Tamworth in the past four weeks, Miami Jetstream won at Armidale by a mere margin of 0.1 over fourth favourite Sathern.
“It was good to get a win under her belt,” Clement said.
Clement noted that the jockey, Rachael Murray, had ridden 23 winners for the season following Saturday’s meet.
Clement said she had advised Murray to “just go to the front and try to keep it rolling”, which worked well.
Clement’s other horses finished seventh, sixth, fourth and fifth, with the Bendemeer trainer saying some of them were in wide barriers while the track didn’t suit them.
Clement nonetheless said the curators had done a marvellous job.
In race two, Murray rode $2 favourite Talented Miss which finished 1.8 lengths behind the first-placed Cathay Belle, which was the third favourite with a starting price (SP) of $7.
The winner was trained by George Woodward and ridden by Peter Graham, while Melinda Graham rode the Clement-trained Yellow Ribbons to seventh out of 11 horses after its SP was $11.
The Paul Grills-trained and Jodi Worley-ridden Muddy Hole won the 1900m race with a 0.5 margin after having an SP of $9.50, while five of the other seven horses in the race had a smaller SP.
The $2.70 favourite Kylie’s Rocking won the 1300m race with a margin of 0.2 while the Clement-trained and Murray-ridden Lady Balladeer came sixth out of 12 after being the third favourite.
Murray rode the Greg Bennett-trained Maddie De Belle to victory in race five after being the short-priced favourite, following its win on a heavy Tamworth track a few weeks earlier.
The equal-second favourites were As A Hawk and Blinkin Trying which came fifth and eighth respectively after they had an SP of $10. Miss Zarelle, which had an SP of $11, came fourth as Clement was the trainer and Melinda Graham the jockey.
Melinda Graham rode the final victor of the day, Roulette Belle, which was seventh favourite in a field of nine while the Clement-trained and Murray-ridden Mansqui came fifth.
