By Neil Evans
A five-year-old Brisbane mare makes her first venture back into NSW since swapping states, chasing a second career win at Tuesday’s feature Grafton meeting.
On a big and open nine-race card to accommodate the rescheduled Lismore Cup, Easier Said heads to the North Coast for a Class 1 & Maiden Plate over 1700m.
Now in the Eagle Farm stable of Lauren Abbott, Easier Said finally rubber-stamped her early promise with an impressive maiden win at the Gold Coast five weeks ago before finishing just behind the placegetters in a tougher Benchmark 58 Handicap over a mile on the Sunshine Coast. She only transferred to Eagle Farm earlier this year after a long break and doing all her initial racing with the Peter Sinclair yard at Moree.
But from the moment Easier Said landed in the Sunshine State, life has improved. And given connections chose to bypass a similar race at the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday, punters get a real leg-up from an in-form trainer who has eight individual winners from her last 18 runners, including a dominant winner at Lismore five weeks ago.
By All Too Hard, Easier Said is likely to be part of a three-way betting arm wrestle with impressive last-start Maiden winner I’mtimmyzou and five-year-old Letmeletgo, who drops back in grade from a Class 2 at Eagle Farm. Easier Said is part of a strong Queensland team travelling to Grafton, headed by Gold Coast seven-year-old Komata in a BM 58 Handicap over 2200m to open the meeting, and promising five-year-old Our Calantha, who returns as a gelding in a Class 1 Handicap (1100m).
Meanwhile, high strike-rate seven-year-old Stuck With Your remains the one to beat in the transferred Lismore Cup over 2100m after the race – with Big Dance eligibility – was postponed last week.
A New Zealand-bred gelding in the Matt Dunn yard on the Far North Coast, Stuck With You produced a dominant BM 76 win from well off the speed at Murwillumbah two starts ago before narrowly edged out in an even tougher BM 90 race at Doomben.
He shoots for a ninth career win from only 27 starts, and is likely to head back to Saturday metro company over the border if he claims the Cup.
Supplied by Racing NSW
