Flying into Hawkesbury last week to oversee the newest of his synthetic tracks, president and founder Martin Collins was thrilled with the finished Polytrack when he attended jump-outs on the new surface last Friday.
“In addition to the Polytrack Provincial Championships Series, we are pleased to further sponsor such a progressive club as Hawkesbury and this latest track will no doubt be of benefit to their trainers,” said Collins.Hawkesbury Race Club chief executive Greg Rudolph is delighted with the announcement, which will see a number of races bear the Polytrack name and logo throughout the course of the next season.
“To see that Martin Collins, through his worldwide network of race tracks and training tracks returns to the industry through sponsorships such as ours is very gratifying,” Rudolph said.“It assists the club to make further improvements to our training facilities across the board, as we strive towards attaining the best training facilities for our horses and their connections.
Hawkesbury Race Club last week announced plans had been submitted to the Hawkesbury City Council for the development of 75 boxes on-course and is working with Racing NSW on the next phase of planned capital works.Meanwhile Hawkesbury trainers are finishing the 2017-18 season with a flourish.
Five winners in three days on four different tracks came over the weekend.The results confirmed Garry White’s status as Hawkesbury’s leading trainer this season at home meetings.
White’s victory at his home venue’s final fixture of the season on Sunday with youngster Brown Thomas followed earlier successes by Brad Widdup and Scott Singleton at Canberra last Friday, Jamie Thomsen at Scone the same day and Bernie Kelly at Cowra on Saturday.The five wins lifted the number prepared by Hawkesbury trainers since January 1 to 113.
Two-year-old Brown Thomas gave White his 16th winner of the season and 11th on his home track.Adding to the trainer’s delight was the fact that his apprentice Ashleigh Borg was in the saddle.
White’s decision to give his apprentice the mount undoubtedly proved decisive. Borg’s 4kg claim lessened the two-year-old’s weight to 52kg – 4.5kg less than he carried at his previous start and 5kg less than favorite Aggarwal.Brown Thomas (Lope De Vega) is a half-brother to Pursuit Of Honour (Street Cry), whose four wins have been between 1900 and 2400m.
Both horses are raced by White’s long-standing owner, Hobartville Stud’s Grahame Mapp.“With a break, I think Brown Thomas will come back a better horse and eventually handle longer distances,” White said.
White is enjoying his best season since 2009-10 when he prepared 17 winners, 13 of which were at Hawkesbury.Scott Singleton made an interesting point about Hawkesbury’s new PolyTrack training circuit after his newcomer Alastriona made it two wins from as many starts for him on the synthetic ACTON track at Canberra.
The PolyTrack circuit opened early last month, and Singleton says it has clearly made a difference, especially when taking horses to Canberra to race on another synthetic track.“Being able to work on the PolyTrack is the key,” he said. “The Canberra trainers had an advantage before, but you can go there now with a bit more confidence.”
Alastriona was Singleton’s 31st this season; his best in terms of winners since he won 34 races in 2014-15.Brad Widdup clinched the 48th success (53 overall) of his first full season of training, and his apprentice Qin Yong his 14th this season when they teamed with St Gallen at the same ACTON meeting.
Jamie Thomsen made it two wins in a week when Shadow Flight scored at the Scone meeting. He had won at Muswellbrook a week earlier with Just Two Vees.Shadow Flight posted his third victory this year. The Duporth gelding is raced by a group headed by the trainer’s legendary former Randwick trainer Bob Thomsen.
Bernie Kelly followed Thomsen’s lead and also made it two wins in quick succession when Atum was successful at Cowra.Kelly, who has only a small team in work at Hawkesbury, scored with Bobbing at Hawkesbury’s July 5 meeting.
