Top flight mare Spright and consistent Reiby Rampart returning to the winner’s circle continued the great run for Hawkesbury-trained horses last Saturday.
Hawkesbury trainer Jason Attard was back in the metropolitan Saturday winning list at Royal Randwick last weekend, with Reiby Rampart, and was also delighted with the performance of his comeback seven-year-old Sons Of John.
Reiby Rampart, ridden by Adam Hyeronimus, is a five-year-old daughter of Shaft and clinched the fourth win of her career by easily taking the Benchmark 85 Handicap (1400m).
“That was her first run since finishing second over the same course at Randwick a month ago (May 26),” Attard said.
“Reiby Rampart is so handy on wet ground that I’m sure there will be another suitable race for her in the coming weeks, especially during winter when the tracks are often soft.”
Attard was especially pleased that the mare’s owners, Hawkesbury Race Club vice-chairman Syd Kelly and his wife Carolyn, were on course to witness the victory; Reiby Rampart’s first at Randwick where she has missed a place only once in four starts, which was in last year’s Provincial Championships Final.
He trains his horses at the Kelly’s historic Reibycroft Stud at Freemans Reach and, understandably, regards the couple as “family”.
Garry Frazer turned the Brisbane winter carnival clock back 23 years by winning with Spright at Doomben – and is now looking ahead to Sydney and Melbourne in the spring.
Frazer’s brilliant victory with Spright ($8.50) in the $175,000 Group 3 Healy Stakes (1200m) was his first Brisbane success since he won the 1995 Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm with Turridu (Mick Dittman).
“I haven’t had many starters in Brisbane since Turridu, and it was great to win another feature yesterday with this mare,” Frazer said after returning home on Sunday.
Hawkesbury Chief Executive Greg Rudolph, was also delighted with the performance of the locals, given the club’s investment with Racing NSW, in the recently opened Polytrack.
“Both Jason Attard and Garry Frazer are big supporters of the new synthetic surface, and it reiterates my confidence that Hawkesbury will become an integral training centre in the years to come,” Rudolph commented.
“Racing NSW are on the verge of releasing their Strategic Plan and we are very much looking forward to working with them to achieve this goal,” he added.
Hawkesbury Race Club itself is due to hold a complimentary luncheon for members on Thursday, July 5.