OUR SARASTRO justified being the favourite in the main event at the Christmas Hams race meet at Gunnedah’s Riverside Racecourse on Saturday.
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The Connie Greig-trained and Chris C Williams-ridden chestnut gelding won the Mannion Drilling/Ultra Fleet Christmas Hams Mile Handicap 1600m feature race by 0.4 lengths after having a starting price (SP) of $2.50 in the field of eight.
It was the fifth time Williams had ridden Our Sarastro, with three wins and two runner-up placings.
“If he gets to the lead, he’s very hard to run down,” Greig said.
Greig indicated that Our Sarastro was coming to the end of his prep, but might have one more race.
The winning margin in the other main race - the Omega Feeds Santa’s Sprint Benchmark 65 Handicap 1300m - was also 0.4 lengths. The George Woodward-trained and Daniel Northey-ridden Columkille edged out the Greg Bennett-trained and Mollie Partridge-ridden Bergdorf in the field of 14.
Columkille had an SP of $6 while $4.80 favourite Real Blonde came fifth.
As Woodward was absent, spokesperson Gemma Johnson said Columkille had been “knocking on the door” after coming second on numerous occasions.
Johnson said that the bay gelding was comfortable being positioned a bit behind the lead before finishing strongly.
In the other five races, Kody Nestor was the winning jockey on three occasions.
In the opening race which was 1000m, the Nestor-ridden and Justin McIntosh-trained In A Spring finished first after being the third favourite with an SP of $4 in the field of five.
Runner-up was $3.60 favourite Zioptimus, half a length behind the victor.
In race three which was 1400m, the Nestor-ridden and Justin Stanley-trained Moqwao won by half a length after being the $2.50 favourite. Runner-up was equal-third favourite Rage Against in the field of 14.
The 2050m race took place following the feature race, with the Nestor-ridden and Mark Schmetzer-trained Wingleow winning after being the $2.30 favourite.
Just 0.4 lengths behind was Leica Boot which had an SP of $9, while Palace Diva placed eighth in the field of 11 after having an SP of $3.
In the second 1000m race of the day, the Les Roberts-trained and Belinda Hodder-ridden White Eagle triumphed despite an SP of $10 as the brown gelding finished 1.8 lengths ahead of $2.50 favourite Beer Money, ridden by Nestor.
The final race was the third of 1000m, with the Sue Grills-trained and Darren Jones-ridden Rothbury winning by 1.3 lengths.
Rothbury’s SP was $5 while the runner-up was $3 favourite De La Hoya.
