By Brad Kingsbury
BERWICK jockey Noel Callow celebrated his 31st birthday in style on Sunday by guiding Wild Classic home in the Pakenham Cup.
Backing up from his win in the Group 2 St George Stakes at Caulfield the previous day, Callow’s masterful ride highlighted the second Sunday cup meeting, held in front of a big, well-behaved crowd.
The Pakenham track was affected by the previous day’s heavy rain and rated slow (rating six), but raced truly and evenly, allowing horses to run on, which suited the winner that had won eight of its 22 previous starts in rain-affected going.
Wild Classic started at $6.90 third pick in the $100,000 race behind runner-up Correct Amoondo and third place-getter Ali Benbara and Callow said the seven-year-old was travelling well throughout.
“I did get blocked up a bit, but when the gaps appeared the horse was good enough to take them and finished really well,” he said.
Owner and trainer Pat McKenna made the four-hour trip from Warrnambool with a degree of confidence, but said the cup was not his main aim. He praised Callow’s ride and predicted he would likely seek the star hoop’s services again after the victory.
There were several hard-luck stories with well-fancied runners in Jeunique that ran home for fourth place, and Classic Pink suffering chequered runs, while leading metropolitan jockey Craig Williams finished fifth on Cranbourne horse Sutology.
Nar Nar Goon horseman John Leek’s two runners The Big Ask and Mr Tambourineman put in disappointing runs, while Brian Rowe’s honest mare Celtic Rise with Chris Symons aboard, failed to handle the slow track.
Two other Cranbourne-trained runners, It’s Picnic (Stephen Theodore) and Bonython (Colin Alderson), finished out of the placings.
The Fashions on the Fields competition was also a major feature of the day with more than 80 entrants and over $10,000 in prizes.
The official attendance was over 4200, with punters wagering $209,241 on course and $1.71 million off course.
The Cup was presented by Racing Minister John Pandazopoulos, who praised the community for its support, while the club’s racing manager Michael Hodge said the meeting was a wonderful success with crowd behaviour exemplary.
