Above: Mark Flaherty was happy to be among the winners during his home club’s biggest meeting of the season.By Brad Kingsbury
THREE Cranbourne trainers shared the spotlight with cup-winning mentor Peter Moody on Sunday after they saddled winners during the afternoon’s strong 10-race program.
Popular trainer Doug Harrison teamed with another well-known Cranbourne-bred star of the turf in jockey Craig Williams to snare the annual 1400-metre $50,000 Schweppes Classic with Harrison’s handy gelding King Johannes.
Other locally based trainers to taste success on the Cranbourne Turf Club’s biggest day of the season included Ray Cleaver and the father-daughter combination of Colin and Cindy Alderson.
Williams completed a double, riding the first and last winners on the card, while Saturday’s successful Caulfield Guineas jockey Brad Rawiller also greeted the judge first on two occasions during the program.
While the win of Peter Moody’s honest gelding Emerald Jack in the Cranbourne Cup highlighted the day’s on-track entertainment, the rest of the day’s racing was of the highest quality, on a track rated a Dead 5 and which raced extra well throughout.
Harrison was unlucky not to snare a double when Prized Packet was lipped out of the fifth race, but he made up for that when King Johannes beat a good-quality field despite missing the jump and giving his rivals a three-lengths start.
“We wanted to give him a chance to settle but I didn’t think he would get back quite that far,” Harrison said.
“It was a great win. I was hoping they would stop up front and they did and he just kept going.”
Harrison said King Johannes had now recovered from a ligament problem under a rear joint and he would now look towards a race in town.
Jockey Craig Williams rode him as though he was the best horse in the field, and said it was a thrill to win the race with Harrison.
“There was a lot of pace in the race and we didn’t draw well, so we were always going to ride him back,” Williams said.
“It’s great to win a race like this on Cranbourne Cup day, especially for Doug and his stable who I’ve had a great association with for a long time.”
Race two winner Whitehaven Girl is owned by a 10-strong syndicate of ladies, many of whom were at the track on the weekend, and trainer Ray Cleaver said she was always going to be too good for the Class 2 company and would now be set for something a little better.
“She’s only 80 per cent fit, so it was a good effort, and she’ll improve on that,” he said.
“We’ll find a nice race for in town during the Flemington carnival.”
Flaherty’s win on Jungle Ruler in the ninth race was never in doubt after he urged his mount to the front at the 250m mark, and the happy hoop said he knew his horse was on its game at that point.
“He’s a funny horse – he either switches right on or right off,” he said.
“The first three furlongs (600m) he was quite fierce but then he came back under me, and when I came to the corner I knew there was still a fair bit of horse under me. He toughed it out really well and dug deep.”
The other highlight of the undercard was the explosive effort of Steve McKinnon’s speed machine Apple Lode, which shot away to take out the $50,000 Settlers Run Golf and Country Club Handicap over 1000m.
Greg Childs rode a smart and patient race and McKinnon said he would now look towards a race at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day and then on to a suitable race over the Flemington Spring Carnival.
