Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 63201 More Murray Bridge Joy For Crowther

Kayla Crowther won her second Murray Bridge Gold Cup in four years when ex-Tasmanian Cartoon Graveyard landed the spoils in Saturday’s Listed feature on one of SA’s biggest spring racedays, which attracted more than 3000 racegoers. 

The Will Clarken-trained gelding was well-backed late and produced a sharp turn of speed from midfield to reel in Pudding, who dashed clear at the top of the straight.

Pudding stayed on gamely to hold second, while Sir Kingsford finished third in a performance that will lay the foundations for a tilt at some feature races in Melbourne over the coming weeks.

Crowther, who won the Gold Cup in 2022 on Agreeable, said the race worked out perfectly for the six-year-old, who was having his third run in SA.

“He had a beautiful run, he bounced well, and the tempo was very genuine, which allowed him to relax into a good rhythm,” Crowther said.

“He got onto the back of Sir Kingsford, shuffled his way into the clear, and finished it off well.

“He was primed for today.

“A bit thanks to Will and the team, they’ve done a great job with him.”

SA’s first two-year-old race of the season, the Moorundi 2YO Classic, went the way of local trainer Michael Hickmott with exciting filly Inhabit.

A $200,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase, Inhabit is a daughter of Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside and looks to have inherited at least some of her sire’s precocity. 

The filly could now be aimed at the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast in January.

It was a day of firsts at Thomas Farms Racecourse, with apprentice Caitlin Munro riding her first city winner, while veteran trainer James Bates saddled up his first metropolitan winner in partnership with Ann Pearson.

Munro won the opener, the Andrew Mills Gifford Hill Guineas, on the Richard and Chantelle Jolly-trained three-year-old Virtual Illusion, while another apprentice, Brooke King, steered Bates’ exciting prospect Cockatoo Rose into the winner’s stall. 

The feature sprint, the Reg Nolan Flying, was won by the David Aldridge-trained Chicago Storm, with Rochelle Milnes in the saddle. The talented gelding has now set up a likely trip to Melbourne for a feature race at The Valley. 

Milnes and Crowther were also on the board at Morphettville Parks on Friday afternoon, where eight different jockeys and trainers shared the spoils on the twilight card.

 

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