Dubbo jockey and Moree old-boy Clayton Gallager landed a winning double at Moree on Friday when guiding Wandering Jack and Da Noive to popular wins.
Kieren Hazleton’s Da Noive ($4.20fav) stuck to the fence, just off the speed before racing clear to win the 1400m Heffernan Electrical BM-58 Handicap by three-parts of a length from Nikki Pollock’s Gulf of Gabes ($11) and Colt Prosser’s Calamity Fox ($7).
Earlier, Gallagher guided lightly-raced five year-old Wandering Jack to an all-the-way win in the 1200m Caretaker’s Maiden Handicap.
Wandering Jack ($5), having just its fifth start for Dubbo trainer Michael Mulholland, won easily from $3.20 favourite International and Artic Panther ($4.80).
“The trainer has always had wraps on the horse,” Gallagher said.
“It was a nice win. The horse is very inexperienced and very immature, and has a lot of learning to do. He’s slowly producing, and today was just another educational round for him.”
Gallagher said the firm going suited on-pace runners.
“It’s quite firm out there, and anything on the speed is running on, and the ones at the back just aren’t gaining the momentum,” he said.
Gallagher followed up with a win on Royal Veloute at Muswellbrook on Sunday for Terry Croft and has taken four rides at the Dubbo Melbourne Cup Day meeting tomorrow.
The leading jockey reunites with Kieren Hazelton on Heza Comet in the 1000m class 1 handicap as well as Kylie Kennedy’s Obey in the 1200m BM-50 handicap.
He also rides Connie Greig’s Blackhill Kitty in the 1600m BM-50 handicap and Judge Jack in the 1200m maiden plate for Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald, who also start Fancy Man in today’s Melbourne Cup.
Meanwhile, apprentice Siena Grima kept her impressive strike-rate intact on Friday with a strong win on Melissa Dennett’s grey, Gunmetal in the 1400m Moree Mile Class 2 Handicap.
The race was brought back 200m in distance after jockeys raised concerns about track safety near the 1600m start. Grima, who’s ridden five winners since October 5, parked Gunmetal ($2.80) off the speed before charging clear at the distance-marker to score by a half-length from Powerful Eagle ($2.20fav) and Hallowed Son ($12).
“He’s got a lot of early speed and jumped really good. I thought if I could lead, too easy; if not, I could take the sit and breath,” Grima said.
“He tracked in really nicely and travelled beautifully into the straight. He got there pretty easily in the end, and could’ve done the mile easily,” she said.
