Training duo Mitchell Beer and George Carpenter will look to deliver the home crowd a major win when their sharp mare Sunrise takes her place in The Warra.
With no locally trained runner featuring in the $1 million Gong (1600m) and fellow Kembla representative Cani Cancan a $151 outsider in The Warra (1000m), Sunrise, the $5 second elect, looms as the Illawarra region’s strongest hope of securing a headline victory.
Beer, once based at Albury, shifted his operation to Kembla two years ago, and Carpenter officially joined him as co-trainer in September.
“Kembla has fast become home. It’s terrific,” Beer said.
“We’ve got a pretty big day socially (on Saturday). We have about 300 people in our marquee on-course, so as new as we are to Wollongong and the club, it feels like our big day pretty quickly.
“This meeting is quite new, the club is new in terms of the CEO and track manager. We all arrived around the same time and it’s great to be involved and aligned with a club trying new things and not just resting on good horses turning up for the Gong.”
Sunrise began her career in New Zealand before being pinpointed by two staff members as a value buy.
Purchased for $45,000 at the 2024 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, the mare has since collected three wins, highlighted by a dominant 7-1/4 length victory over the The Warra trip in March, clocking a track record 55.58 seconds for the Kembla 1000m.
“We’re a stable that loves getting hold of tried horses,” Beer said.
“Her form in New Zealand was good, and I thought if she could take good physical improvement, she would stack up OK.
“It would be nice to be taking her back through that sale in a couple of years as a stakes winner.”
Sunrise’s manners were a work in progress early on, and her preparation hit further hurdles — including colic and a virus — before she finally found momentum.
But with this race having been the aim ever since her fifth in the Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes (1100m) at Scone in May, Beer is satisfied she peaks at the right time.
“For us, she is a track record holder here at Kembla over 1000 so it’s a perfect race for us to really target and she couldn’t be going into the race in any better form,” he said.
Following the retirement of long-time stable flagbearer Mnemeth earlier in the year, Sunrise now has the opening to emerge as the yard’s next headline act.
“Someone has bloody got to. He carried the stable for a long time,” Beer said.
“I think she can go to that level. She’s not a week-in, week-out Group horse, but she is a genuine Saturday class to Listed mare, and she has really found her right race.”
