12 Months of Planning Pays off on Cup Day

It was the Sunday after the 2023 Townsville Cup Day that Lindsay Hatch and John Horan sat down and started the planning for the 2024 Townsville Cup Day. It is Townsville Horse Racing Grand Final Day, and having four winners was special for the team.

It was a very busy week for the team getting nine runners ready for Cup Day. It also included travelling to the Cairns Races on Thursday where we had Deer Hunter win our first race of the new Racing Season in the driving rain. We would also like to congratulate Lindsay Hatch on another successful training season last year with 66 Winners all over Queensland. He finished fourth in the Queensland Provincial Training Premiership.

Yesterday also highlighted the hard work put in by Martin Hayley (Townsville Foreman) Loree Barrett and Mikhaila Brand who get up at 3am every morning to have these horses looking in great shape. The team has produced five winners in three days and a cracking start to the new racing season.

Tropic Sands started the day well for Lindsay. On the quick back up from running third last Sunday, Justin Huxtable rode this up-and-coming stayer to perfection. He drove Tropic Sands to the lead at the top of the straight and got him home with some strong riding. Tropic Sands will most probably go to Cairns now to contest the BM65 1900m on Cairns Newmarket Day.

Russian Mint was purely breathtaking winning race 3 over 1000m. After drawing the outside gate Justin Stanley had no choice but to take the horse back to last. At the corner Stanley took the Russian Revolution gelding to the outside and he motored them down. We purchased this horse from the Mick Price Melbourne stables as a maiden to target this race yesterday. The horse has now won three races from only five starts for Lindsay.

Northernontap, there were some serious beers being drank after he won. He was probably our best bet of the day after drawing gate 3 with Lacey Morrison on. After such a huge run first up for us after being trapped five wide the trip from gate 16 and still running fourth, we knew he was going to be very hard to beat yesterday. It was a typical Lacey Morrison ride to perfect carrying 62KGS winning eased down on the line. We purchased this horse as a yearling at 2022 Magic Millions Sales.

Moktaffy, made it four winners for the day after another Lacey Morrison clinical ride. She drove the seven-year-old gelding to the lead at the 200m mark and he raced away after receiving the run of the race. We had owners from all over Australia come to Townsville to watch him win yesterday. Moktaffy will now head towards the Cairns Carnival.

Sayl put in another good performance in the Townsville Cup. The grey ran 5^th only beaten 3.4 lengths. He is progressing nicely and will head towards the Mackay and Cairns Cups.

Circularity had to work hard early and didn’t enjoy the firmness of the track in Cleveland Bay handicap. We will freshen him up and aim towards Cairns.

All roads’ head to Mackay next weekend for Mackay Cup Day.