LEMARIE FULFILLS PROMISE TO EPSOM WINNING RIDER
And the talented young jockey’s heady ride enabled former Victorian Showmara to take the Richmond Club Midway Benchmark 68 Handicap (1500m) at the Hawkesbury trainer’s home track today.
Grima hadn’t intended to lead on well supported Showmara ($4.20), but wisely took up the running – and it meant the difference between victory and defeat.
After a good battle with runner-up Malbork Castle ($3.80 favorite) along the straight, Showmara’s 4.5kg weight pull told the tale at the end.
“I knew Siena before she joined the Chris Waller stable in Sydney,” Lemarie said this evening.
“I took a horse with limited ability (he was a $151 rank outsider) to the bush 17 months ago, and Siena rode him for me.
“He was beaten a long way, and I told Siena I would put her on a winner one day when I felt I had a suitable chance.
“She is a very good jockey, and rode Showmara well.”
Lemarie and his wife Rebecca paid $7000 online through Inglis Digital for then Showtime four-year-old Showmara when he was put up for sale in January after finishing ninth in a Werribee Benchmark 56 Handicap (1429m) earlier that month.
“Rather than keep racing him, I gave him a good spell when he came to me, and he has put on 80 or 90kg,” Lemarie said.
“Showmara has come back a more mature horse, and has now won two of his last three starts (the first at Mudgee on August 30 in a Benchmark 58 Handicap (1400m).
“I vary his training by also jumping him at home rather than always going to the track, and the change has been good for his mind.”
Lemarie has kept his three-year-old filly Parisest Magic in the stable after her last of seven runners in the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on October 3, when a $101 bolter.
“She ran where we expected, but it was good experience for her,” he said.
“I’ll give her a bit more time, and look for a suitable race, probably at the provincials, to hopefully give her a ‘kill’.
“I still believe she is a stakes class filly.”
. Coincidentally another $7000 online buy at the same Inglis sale in January was a “quaddie killer” in the previous race.
Kembla Grange trainer Anthony Mountney produced Sonnig (Adam Farragher) to lead throughout at $31 in the Fowler Civil Contracting Provincial Class 1 Handicap (1500m).
A five-year-old daughter of 2019 The Everest winner Yes Yes Yes, Sonnig won her second race for her new connections after breaking through at home in July over the same distance in a Provincial Maiden.
“Sonnig can be a bit cranky at times, but is a nice mare and her connections are having fun with her,” Mountney said.
“Adam gave her a great ride out in front. It was all about rhythm here today.
“I think she will get further than 1500m.”
Sonnig wouldn’t surrender down the running and held off a late burst from $1.90 favorite Blue Eyed Brigid, who gave away a tidy start and almost certainly would have won had she raced truly in the straight.
Farragher was handed a careless riding suspension from earlier in the day when RacingNSW stewards said he caused interference on Bright Promise (fourth) to beaten favorite Imperial Royale (seventh) in the straight in the Redbank North Richmond F&M Benchmark 64 Handicap (1300m).
In suspending Farragher from October 21 to November 1 (when he can ride again), stewards said this was his fifth careless riding charge in the last 12 months.
Imperial Royale’s rider Tommy Berry told stewards that, despite the interference, his filly was never comfortable in the soft ground.
A subsequent veterinary examination revealed she was slow to recover.
