ALLAN Chau rode the last two winners on the final day of the Walcha Jockey Club Carnival to win the jockey’s premiership and hand Tamworth trainer Craig Martin the $10,000 Productive Pastures Solutions Nivison Cup Benchmark 50 (1440m).
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Tamworth-based Chau had won with Bob’s Warrior in the fourth race and then completed a perfect day when he sooled Our Boy Danny ($4.00fav) to an overdue win in the feature event.
“He didn’t pull as hard as he did at Tamworth but just sat in behind them off the speed and just a little vulnerable at the end,” Chau said.
Tony Newing’s Holmgang had led by a large margin up the hill but ran out of gas turning down and around for home for Our Boy Danny to charge out of the pack and set up his fifth race win.
Gravity Force, ridden by Sophie Young, had drawn badly and was forced to sit back and rattle home, beaten three quarters of a length for a gallant second.
Medal Of Glory was third.
Martin prepares Our Boy Danny for a group of people including Trevor Davis, a current Tamworth Jockey Club committeeman and Tim Coates, a former TJC president.
Slade, another syndicate member was on hand and was delighted to be able to celebrate a win.
“We’ve been happy with him,” Slade said.
“Has been racing well, always been close.”
He said winning on Saturday where the non-TAB meeting was upgraded to a Sky 2 TAB status and resulted in a $6,000 race being bumped up to $10,000, made it even better.
“We just want to thank the Nivison Family and the Walcha Jockey Club for putting on all these races,” he said in reference to not only the final race today but the eight held on Friday.
The fact the final race of the carnival is sponsored by the Nivison Family is also a notable sponsorship.
They have raced many horses with trainers such as Tim and Craig Martin and enjoyed a lot of success.
They have also played a major role in running the club, as Jim Nivison confirmed.
He is the current WJC president and has been for the past 15 years.
“It’s been a fantastic two days,” Nivison said.
“Good racing, good crowds and good turnover although I don’t how we’ve gone today. Whatever that is it is a bonus. Obviously having TAB status today was a bonus for us.”
While he has been WJC president for 15 years, his late father, Simon, was club president for 22 years after his father, Jim’s grandfather, Stuart Nivison, had led the club for 21 years.
“It’s a great job,” Jim Nivison added.
“We’ve got a great committee, a great town and great sponsors. We have a lot of passionate racing people. It’s a pleasure to do this job especially when everything goes off as smoothly as it has. I love it, been great.”
The elevation of the non-TAB meeting to TAB status following the postponement of Royal Randwick and Kembla Grange saw bumper pools for the Walcha races.
In New South Wales, more than $300,000 was wagered through the TAB, with more than $265,000 bet in Victoria.
