SUNDAY HOME ON FRIDAY FOR GREENTREE

SATURDAY: November 22, 2025: WHEN is Sunday not on a Sunday?

When it’s winning on Friday of course.

A five-year-old mare named Sunday and trained at Hawkesbury by Jackie Greentree made it two wins on end when successful at Orange yesterday.

Ridden by Jake Pracey-Holmes, the $7 chance did all the work and showed plenty of grit to take the Class 1 Handicap (1400m).

Sunday made the running and, after being headed by Luna Jet ($3) in the straight, would not be denied and fought back to add to her victory as a maiden in a Class 1 Handicap (1400m) at the Showcase meeting at Coonabarabran on October 25, when she did actually win on the same day as her name.

Greentree took over Sunday’s preparation when fellow Hawkesbury trainer John Higgins relocated to Port Macquarie, and says a couple of factors have been instrumental in the mare’s form surge.

She put blinkers on the daughter of National Defense for her second at Coonamble on October 12, and then her next two starts have yielded great results at Coonabarabran and Orange (Pracey-Holmes was aboard in both wins).

“The blinkers have obviously helped along with the fact that we brought Sunday back to a more suitable distance,” Greentree said this morning.

“Her breeding suggested she would manage further, but that hasn’t been the case.

“Whilst her two wins have been at 1400m, she might handle 1500m now given the manner in which she is racing.

“Sunday’s owner purchased her for $7000 at an Inglis Premier yearling sale in Melbourne primarily as a breeding prospect.

“She has now had a few runs this time in work, and we will see how she comes through the Orange race before deciding where she goes next to chase a hat-trick.”

Greentree, who began her racing career apprenticed to legendary Newcastle trainer Paul Perry, trains a few horses as a hobby.

She has a so far unraced two-year-old half-sister (La Folle, by Wild Ruler) to Brisbane mare Walsh Bay, who between August and October strung together five wins on end, including the Toowoomba and Queensland Cups.

. Fellow Hawkesbury trainer Claire Lever broke through for her first winner this season immediately following Greentree’s success with Sunday.

Hawkesbury apprentice Emma Ly got Lever’s Tango On ($8.50) away smartly from his outside barrier in the Maiden Handicap (1000m), and then settled him outside the leader Triolli before taking charge in the straight.

Tango On, a four-year-old by Supido, gamely repelled all challengers over the last 200m to defeat Cuesta ($3.60) and Nightwalker ($41), shedding his maiden status at his seventh start.

Whilst it was Lever’s first winner of the current season, it was the former jockey’s 42^nd career success since turning her hand to training.