View the nominations for the 2016 VRC-CRV Winter Championship Series Final. The VRC-CRV Winter Championship Series Final will be run on Saturday 9th July at Flemington racecourse.
| Horse | Sex | Age | Trainer | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BY THE GRACE | G | 5 | Andrew Noblet | ||
| 2 | CHANCE TO DANCE (IRE) | G | 6 | Robert Hickmott | ||
| 3 | CHIVALRY | H | 4 | Darren Weir | ||
| 4 | DEL PRADO | G | 5 | Leon & Troy Corstens | ||
| 5 | FAROLITOS | G | 4 | John O’Shea | ||
| 6 | FAST AND FREE | G | 7 | Mick Price | ||
| 7 | IGGIMACOOL | M | 5 | Robert Smerdon | ||
| 8 | JACQUINOT BAY | G | 8 | David Hayes & Tom Dabernig | ||
| 9 | KENJORWOOD | G | 6 | Darren Weir | ||
| 10 | LEVERACTION | G | 7 | Daryl Archard | ||
| 11 | LORD DURANTE | G | 7 | Simone Ferchie | ||
| 12 | MINNIE DOWNS | M | 7 | Brian Cox | ||
| 13 | ONPICALO | G | 6 | Mick Price | ||
| 14 | PETROLOGY | G | 4 | David Hayes & Tom Dabernig | ||
| 15 | RHYTHM TO SPARE (NZ) | G | 6 | Michael Moroney | ||
| 16 | RUGGED CROSS (GB) | G | 7 | Darren Weir | ||
| 17 | WAR STORY (IRE) | G | 6 | Matt Cumani | ||
| 18 | ZEBRINZ | G | 5 | Leon & Troy Corstens |
News:
Picking up the phone and calling Hugh Bowman’s manager is one of the highlights of Wade Mathie’s career.
The part-time trainer, who has a small team of horses near Moruya on the NSW south coast, said the thought of booking Bowman to ride his best horse Tipta Tantivy was enough to get him excited.
“He’s such a champion jockey. It’s just a huge buzz even talking about it let alone booking him,” Mathie said.
Tipta Tantivy is set to be Mathie’s first city runner in the Highway Handicap at Randwick on Saturday.
Mathie has spent the past 10 years working with horses professionally, breaking them in for locals including the late Group One-winning trainer Bede Murray.
After getting his training licence, Mathie said he tinkered around with a few of his own horses while also helping others out with “problem horses” without much luck.
Now he gets his chance to train a city winner thanks to brothers Pat and Peter Quilty who bred Tipta Tantivy and race her with Mathie.
She is a rising six-year-old as she heads to the races for just her fourth start, a mark of the owners’ patience.
“They’ve had a lot of bad luck over the years with horses that haven’t cut the mustard but this mare seems quite talented at this stage,” Mathie said.
“It’s a great family that owns her.
“I’ve broken in a fair few horses over the years for these guys – they’re never in any hurry.”
Mathie broke Tipta Tantivy in as a two-year-old before she spent two years in a paddock.
In her maiden win at Kembla Grange last start, she sat wide on the track before storming home.
As Mathie watched the race on television at the track, he thought she might have run off course when she was not on screen entering the straight.
But the mare’s turn of foot left him pleasantly surprised as she won easily, paying $40 on the NSW tote.
“She just comes on to the screen and goes past them like a rocket,” he said.
Whatever the result on Saturday, Mathie said Tipta Tantivy has already taken everyone involved with her on a great ride.
“We’re all over the moon,” he said.
