Graham Fischer
PORT Lincoln racehorse trainer Shylie Williams saw her horse Gold Derby fly home to win its maiden race on Wednesday’s meeting at the Gawler & Barossa Jockey Club, and afterwards, she spoke of her connection with The Bunyip.
“Back in 1980, or 81, I had my photo on the front page,” Williams said.
“At that time, I was a keen equestrian rider and competed for four years when the three-day event was conducted in Gawler.
“The photo showed me riding through a water jump – I still have the front page at home in Lincoln.”
This time it was Gold Derby creating the headlines with an impressive win.
Ridden by mature-age apprentice Margaret Collett, the three-year-old bounded out of gate one, quickly established a two-length lead, and kept running.
Despised by punters and starting at $81, Gold Derby scored by one-and-three-quarters lengths from The Haitian Poet ($12) with Eight Over Eight ($13), over a length away in third.
Williams said she wasn’t completely surprised by the win, despite its price.
“He has been galloping well,” she said.
“But he is so big and inexperienced I wasn’t sure what would happen.
“I told Marg to jump him to the front and ride him like he was the best horse in the race, and he just kept going.”
The feature race on the day was the Gawler & Barossa Jockey Club Life Members Cup over 1700m, which was taken out by Frankel Star, ridden by Jacob Opperman and trained at Murray Bridge by Matthew Seyers.
In a driving finish, Frankel Star ($3.90) scored by a half-length from Back Pocket ($3.10 fav) with Waikato Express ($17) a similar margin away third.
Seyers believes the lightly raced five-year-old is starting to find some form and believes he can develop into a strong middle-distance performer.
Promising apprentice Jacob Opperman was the most successful jockey for the day, landing a double with a win on Extra Mile in the Cornerstone Stud Handicap (1100m) – heat one of the Sir Prancealot Series.
He rode Extra Time ($4) to score by two lengths from Turf Tapper ($6.50) with Avora Sun ($16), one-and-a-quarter lengths away in third.
The next Gawler meeting is the Be Bushfire Ready Day on Monday, October 5.