Ferlaxing wins Anzac Day Cup

Deniliquin Racing Club president Greg Danckert said the success of the Anzac Day meeting was a credit to everyone involved, and in particular the local community who provided such strong support.

“A day like this takes a lot of work and I would like to thank everyone, from committee members to sponsors and the many patrons who came along to ensure we had a great day of racing,” he said.

“We also received tremendous support from the racing fraternity, and I thank the trainers and jockeys who ensure smaller meetings such as ours can continue.”

While the track was rated a Heavy 8 at last week’s inspection by NSW Racing stewards, the warm autumn sunshine over the weekend saw it upgraded to an ideal Good 4 by the first race on Tuesday.

It was a credit to the Deniliquin Racing Club, with winners throughout the afternoon coming from on-pace or back in the field.

The main race on the program, the White Lion Anzac Day Cup, was won impressively by Ferlaxing, which continued its good form after scoring at Seymour earlier in the month.

Ferlaxing was from the last crop of ill-fated sire Ferlax, an Australian Guineas winner that was killed in a paddock accident in 2017.

The five-year old gelding, trained at Wangaratta by Dan McCarthy and ridden by Jamie Gibbons, started a $3.20 second favourite.

He scored by more than two lengths to a pair of Andrew Dale runners, Garros and Eamonn’s Memory.

Ferlaxing’s trainer Dan McCarthy said he was “rapt to be at the Deni races.”

“I’m an Assumption College boy and knew a lot of the Deni boys from my time there. We’re old friends, so Deni is a special place for me,” he said.

“Ferlaxing is a lovely horse who has recently arrived with us.

“He has won three of his last four races.”

The opening race on the program was a Maiden Plate, sponsored by Purtill Group, North Deni Steel, and Activ8 Health & Fitness.

There were some nervous moments before the start with a barrier incident that led to three late scratchings.

After a short delay, when the gates opened, the Benalla trained Unspoken Star soon took up the running and scooted over the 1000m journey in a slick time of 57.98, giving nothing else a chance as it won by nearly 2.5 lengths.

The son of top sire Zoustar is trained by Peter Burgun and was well ridden by Hannah Le Blanc, who later in the afternoon was awarded a memorial prize, donated by the Dunbar family, as the day’s leading apprentice jockey.

It was a form turnaround for Unspoken Star, which had previously not been placed in its nine starts.

Second place went to Pretty Penguin and third to first starter Babalola, trained at Berrigan by Paul McVicar.

Race 2 was the 1400m BLT Fabrication Maiden Plate, which saw the Russell Osborne (Benalla) trained Onemorekimmie come from well back to finish strongly and score by two lengths, from Black Messiah and Bendigo trained favourite Snow Star.

The winner was ridden by Randy Tan and scored its first victory at its 13th race start.

In Race 3, the Deniliquin RSL Sub-branch and Wayne Dunbar Memorial Class 2 Handicap over 1400m, King And King showed a form reversal on a better surface to record its third race win.

The well-bred Fastnet Rock gelding is trained at Swan Hill by Nathan Hobson and had finished 12th of 13 on his home track on April 13, but had shown good form at other recent starts including a win last month at Balranald.

King And King was ridden by Robert Beattie, who after the final race was presented with the $250 Harvey Trotter Engineering prize for leading senior rider.

Second place went to Wangaratta trained San Mauritz, with Frozen Prince in third.

Veteran jockey Robert Beattie made it a double in the last two races when he scored aboard Lescot in the Peter Newman Memorial Benchmark 50 Handicap over 1200m.

It is raced in memory of former local racing club president and life member Peter Newman.

Beattie showed his skill and experience when he guided Lescot from the outside barrier and gave him a smooth run before hitting the front in the straight and scoring by three-quarters of a length.

The four-year old Under The Louvre gelding is trained by Jarrod Robinson at Bendigo and recorded its second win in 13 starts.

Andrew Dale had his fourth placing for the afternoon when the $3.60 favourite Threetimeslucky was runner-up, and the veteran 10 year-old Lightning Rider finished third.

Dale’s four placings gave him enough points to win the $250 Trainer’s Trophy, sponsored by Ash Real Estate.

Fast times throughout the day were a testament to the excellent condition of the track.

After the last race patrons continued enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, as well as a game of traditional two-up.