The Walcha Cup prelude meeting at Armidale last Friday was very well supported by trainers and owners alike with very few scratchings. The wet weather was a worry for the Armidale Jockey Club but as it turned out the track was in perfect order with perhaps a little deterioration later in the day. The change of stable for Semenya proved that it sometimes works for horses and this has been the case for Semenya.
Semenya was in the care of Cathy Brennan who just couldn’t find the key to Semenya. Semenya’s two runs for the new stable have been good with a third at Glen Innes and at Armidale last Friday the closest of seconds. Maybe she didn’t like the air up here but changes of environment sometimes work. Cathy had Metric Mile start in the 1900m race at Armidale and he gave his owners a huge thrill as he loomed up at the 200m mark and looked a real show at that point.
The placegetters however overtook him and although he plugged on was out gunned at the finish. Finding a suitable race for him is a bit of a challenge but his preference seems to be the 1600m.
The main race of the day, the Walcha Cup Prelude, saw no less than three Walcha owned horses engaged.
Jill Nivison’s Mt Rainier, Willie Brennan and Alan Green’s Olivia Grace and the George Woodward trained For Glory. Jill Nivison was on hand to witness her charge Mt Rainier finish off the race well to win by a narrow but decisive margin.
Mt Rainier was posted just off the pace all the way and his win was a good pointer to his chances in the Walcha Cup; a race Jill has never won but daughter Kate has, and Jill is keen to reverse that position. Mt Rainier is guaranteed a run in the Walcha Cup as the winner of the Cup Prelude is exempt from ballot in the Walcha Cup.
Perhaps the run of the race and possibly the day once again was that of Olivia Grace.
Olivia Grace is a noted back marker and trailed the field all the way. Olivia Grace hit a wet patch at the 1400 and very near fell twice at that point. This put her further back than the jock would have liked but she came home with a wet sail once again to finish a very nice third. Olivia Grace will probably forego a start in the Walcha Cup for two reasons, one, she gets a long way back in her races and the short run home of 200m at Walcha would be unsuitable for her manner of racing and two she is probably better suited over a longer distance than the 1440m of the Walcha Cup. There will, I believe, be a good number of Walcha owned horses start here and all is heading in the right direction at this stage.We just need the weather to be with us!
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