Image – Racing SA.
A long trip to the races is nothing new for the training partnership of Ron Daniel and Trish Stanbury.
They’ll leave for NSW today, with Pooncarie Cup hopeful Shiny Rock set to lead their stable’s charge into tomorrow’s meeting at Pooncarie Racing Club.
“It’s around about six to six and a half hours there, so we’ll go up tonight, race tomorrow and head home after the races,” Daniel told NSW Country and Picnic Racing.
“We’re used to it, and really, these trips are pretty standard.
“If we are going to Port Augusta, which is half of our season, it’s basically the same trip, and to go to Port Lincoln, it’s three hours on top of that.”
The long treks to race meetings might be the norm for the Murray Bridge stable, but much work goes into making it all possible.
“I suppose it is part and parcel of what we do, but there is a lot involved in sorting it out,” Daniel said.
“We have to sort out stabling, workers, and mix enough feed for a few days, and then make sure the truck is up to standard, and we need to find jockeys willing to go there, so there is a bit involved.”
Daniel and Stanbury will call upon Sairyn Fawke to ride Shiny Rock (gate 2) in the Pooncarie Cup (1550m), Red Garter (gate 4) in the Benchmark 50 Handicap (1200m), Riched (gate 4) in the Benchmark 58 Handicap (1000m), and Princess Sally (gate one) in the Class Two Handicap (1550m).
Sairyn rides many of our hoses when we do go to these country meetings, and he wins a lot of races for us,” Daniel said.
“So we approached his manager three to four weeks ago and asked if he would be willing to go.”
Shiny Rock does appear to be the horse to beat in the $20,000 Pooncarie Cup, but the five-year-old wasn’t missed by handicappers when lugged 64.5kg.
Shiny Rocky is racing in good form after his last-start Quorn Cup triumph, where he carried 62kg to victory, and Daniel believes the ten-time winner will handle the heavy weight.
“He’s been up a fair while, and we know he goes well on the dirt,” Daniel said.
“It’s a good race to go to, and yes, we didn’t quite expect we’d get that much weight, and it was a bit of a shock to us, but we had already made arrangements to go, and he’s carried that weight to a win before.”
Formerly raced in NSW and Victoria, Shiny Rock was with the likes of Jean Dubois, James Ponsonby, and Andrew Dale.
Dale got the most out of the Fastnet Rock gelding, winning races at Albury, Wangaratta, Corowa and Narrandera before he was sent to race with Garret Lynch in Murray Bridge.
Shiny Rocky was a different horse in South Australia, winning five from seven for Lynch, including a victory in the Port Augusta Cup in July.
Lynch was only recently disqualified, which led to Shiny Rock being sent to Daniel and Stanbury’s yard.
“Prodigy Racing in Singapore own the horse, and they got their horses together and sent them to Garret Lynch, but he got a little bit of a holiday a month or so ago, and all his horses got distributed out, and we got 12 and were lucky enough to get Shiny Rock,” Daniel said.
“At his first start, we took him out to the Quorn Cup, and he did a really good job.
“He went out and led by seven or eight lengths, and the apprentice (Rochelle Milnes) had a bit of trouble with him, but he was tough, and it was a good win.”
This year’s Pooncarie Cup has held up well, and Daniel believes fellow Murray Bridge visitor Splash Some Cash (Murray Henderson, gate 1) from the David Page yard is the horse to beat,
“He’s getting to the end of his tether now and will probably go for a short break after this race,” Daniel said.
“It’s a good race for him, but I think the horse that David Page has will be hard to beat; he’s been there before, knows the track, and he’s no slouch and a pretty fair horse.
“We’ll go forward, and he’ll go forward, and he’s second-up, and we’ll strip a bit fitter, and hopefully that ends up being the difference in the second half of the race.”
Of the stable’s other chances, Daniel and Stanbury were confident of a big day at Pooncarie.
“Red Garter has taken a little bit of sorting out, so we’ll put him on the dirt and see how he handles it, while with the other two, we’re expecting a forward showing.”
On a big day at Pooncarie, gates open at 11 am, and entry is $25 for adults and $20 for concession, which includes a racebook.
Under-18s get in for free.
Fashions on the Field starts at 12.30 pm, and racing jumps at 1.10 pm.
For more on the race day, click here.
For fields, click here.
