By Neil Evans
He lives at Tamworth, and carries the name of an outback metropolis more than 1300 km from the NSW north coast, but distance means nothing to an exciting four-year-old set to light up Tuesday’s feature Grafton meeting.
Broken Hill, a sparingly raced four-year-old son of the great Lonhro and aptly out of a mare called Mining Tycoon, is gunning for a third straight win in the headline Flying Handicap over 1181m.
Based with leading trainer Cody Morgan and backed by a big team of owners, Broken Hill is also out to prove he’s not just a home track star.
Tamworth trainer Cody Morgan.Credit: Peter Hardin
Since transferring up to New England from the Hawkes camp in Sydney late last year, Broken Hill has sailed home to win both starts at Tamworth up to Class 3 level and nine weeks apart.
And he takes this next significant step again off a two-month break via a smart trial win at home on March 15.
A dominant winner at Canterbury in only his second start, Broken Hill has always been blessed with ability from a young age.
He is likely to target a city midweek or Highway race if he beats this high-quality sprint field at Grafton, although there’ll be little or no room for error against a trio of rivals who boast good strike rates in smart company.
Resuming top weight Exclusive has a 25 per cent career strike rate, and an even more impressive six wins from 15 starts at Grafton.
Port-based mare Leave Me Some drops back from tougher BM 78 metropolitan company over the border second-up, and has a 20 percent winning strike rate from 40 career starts.
And further down in the weights, smart five-year-old Schiller Bay can peak fourth-up, with a 25 percent win rate from just 16 starts.
Throw in tough and hard fit Armidale mare Bullinachinashop (fives wins from 18) among others, and it’s a battle that could prove one of the better autumn form races across country NSW.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
