Apprentice jockey Jessica Eaton made a splash upon her entry to SA racing at Murray Bridge on Saturday, landing a double, including one of the $100,000 SABOIS feature races.
The meeting was also a triumph for the Tony and Calvin McEvoy stable, which landed a treble.
Victorian-based, 2kg metro-claimer Eaton only arrived in Adelaide on Friday as part of a three-month local stint, but wasted no time getting on the winners’ list.
The 26-year-old endured a tricky run with Super Striker, before the Leon Macdonald-Andrew Gluyas runner proved too strong for the field in the two-year-old SABOIS Magic Millions Plate over 1200m. It was a stable quinella for Macdonald and Gluyas, with Another Award running home well to finish second.
Later in the day Eaton managed to secure Dare to Dream horse Blow Torch’s first SA win, after a string of solid performances, several without luck. Blow Torch’s overdue success was the final leg of a treble for the McEvoys, after promising three-year-old Hypersonic made an auspicious debut in race one over 900m and Winning Partner scored in race five, a benchmark 82 event over 1200m.
The second $100,000 event on the card – which boasted a Murray Bridge-record $456,500 prizemoney – was taken out in emphatic style by the fast-finishing Calypso Reign. The three-year-old Carlton Draught Plate, also over 1200m, assembled a strong field, but it was trainer David Jolly and jockey Kayla Crowther who combined to produce the winner.
Riding to the track pattern, Crowther extricated Calypso Reign to the outside at the top of the straight and steamed past the entire field.
Super Striker probably edged out Hypersonic and Calypso Reign as the most impressive winner of the day, while Beermint deserves special mention after winning his second successive race at big odds. The Heather Lehmann-trained five-year-old was again ridden by Anna Jordsjo, who rated the winner perfectly out in front.
The other highlight of the Murray Bridge meeting was a double to jockey Barend Vorster (Hypersonic and Winning Partner).
SA racing ventured to Port Augusta on Sunday, when the Will Clarken-trained Handsome Return led all the way to win the 2300m City of Port Augusta Cup, ridden by apprentice Margaret Collett.
