By John Schell
Newcastle trainer Kris Lees started the new year with a bang with a two-year-old winner at Randwick on Saturday, and he will be out to maintain the form at Taree on Tuesday with two runners set to go around, one of which is for Australian Bloodstock.
Lees prepared Rivellino to score on debut at Randwick and sends his team to Taree confident of carrying on the winning trend.
Newcastle trainer Kris Lees.Credit: Getty
He will start My Mate Cobber in the Harrington Hotel Harrington Cup – Benchmark 66 Handicap (1300m), with Jose Severo to ride, lining up alongside stablemate Solutionist, which will be ridden by Andrew Gibbons.
Solutionist races in the Australian Bloodstock colours and looks the pick of the Lees pair.
My Mate Cobber is having his first start for Lees in what is the final race of the day having previously been trained by Ken Lantry. He’s a winner of two from 27 but also has 11 minor placings to his name.
Solutionist has only had six starts, with the four-year-old mare by Written By winning two of them.
“She had a couple of unplaced runs in her first campaign against handy opposition then showed the benefit of those efforts when winning two from two at her second preparation, including one at Taree,” Lees said of Solutionist.
“She’s had another two starts since resuming and, while unplaced in each of them, she’s been beaten less than two lengths each time.”
The Taree meeting will have somewhat of an international flavour with the Adam Duggan-prepared All Hunky Dory lining up in the Shoreline Tavern Harrington Benchmark 58 Handicap (1600m).
All Hunky Dory formerly campaigned in Hong Kong, where it last raced at Happy Valley in June of 2021.
Since joining the Duggan stable the Irish-bred gelding by Exceed And Excel has had two trials before running second at Tamworth and then winning at Taree at his latest outing, starting favourite in each of them.
Ashley Morgan was aboard All Hunky Dory in his Taree victory, however, Jean Van Overmeire, who was in the saddle at Tamworth, is back aboard the eight-year-old on Tuesday.
Konasana, Robusto nominated for The Lakes at Wyong
Belle of the Turf winner Konasana and The Ingham champion Robusto were among strong nominations for the inaugural $500,000 The Lakes at Wyong this Saturday. Twenty-one nominations were received on Monday for the 1600m race which will headline Wyong’s standalone program. The Chris Waller-trained Konasana won the group 3 Belle of the Turf, transferred from Gosford, over 1625m at Wyong on New Year’s Eve, running down Redbreast, which is also among the entries. The Bjorn Baker-prepared Robusto caused an upset in the group 2 The Ingham (1600m) at Randwick on December 14, then was runner-up in The Buffering at Eagle Farm. Waller also has Osipenko, Waterford and Geriatrix in entries, while Ciaron Maher has St Lawrence, Chorlton Lane and Junipal.
Craig Kerry
Charlemagne scores in Moruya Cup
In-form French jockey Pierre Boudvillain gave Danielle Seib-trained Charlemagne a gun run to win the Moruya Cup (1425m), a Big Dance qualifier, on Monday. Boudvillian, who had four winners at Wagga last Friday, positioned the $11 chance midfield from a gate three start as favourite Toes In The Water made a sustained run to lead from barrier 10. Charlemagne, a six-year-old trained at Goulburn, was peeled out approaching the turn and given a clear shot at the leader, which he powered past at the 250m mark.
The Robert and Luke Price-trained All Machiavellian, with Tommy Berry aboard, made a late charge but fell short by a short neck. The win makes Charlemagne eligible for the $2 million Big Dance in November. Canberra trainer Luke Pepper and jockey Nick Heywood earlier had a race-to-race double with Bengal and Fine Vintage.
Craig Kerry
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
