Likable Nyngan trainer Rodney Robb picked up a quinella in the fourth at Parkes on Thursday but not in the order he, or many others, thought would eventuate.
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Five-year-old long-shot Dead Reckoning pipped stablemate and Western District Country Championship contender Mango Liston to the post at the Parkes Jockey Club’s TAB meeting, saluting in the D’Aquino’s Super Cellars Class 2 Handicap (1400m) at odds of $21.
Mango Liston ($7) finished half-a-length back to give Robb the double and ensure the five-hour round trip to the races was worth it, even if he did miss out on the punt.
“I tell everyone when I head off to the races and I’ve got two horses in the one race that I’m going to put $10 on the quinella,” Robb said.
“But my 25-each-way went on Mango Liston (on Thursday). It was a bit of a shock (when Dead Reckoning won). It was his first time over 1400. I’m pleased for the owner, he’s a good supporter of the stable.
“I’m pleased whatever happens, really, especially after a win. But results like that, that’s why punters go to the races in shorts and thongs and the bookies leave in big cars.”
With 33 starts next to his name, Dead Reckoning isn’t eligible for the country championship heat at Dubbo on February 10 but both Mango Liston (16 starts, four wins) and, another in Robb’s stable, Thermosa (six starts, three wins) fit the bill.
Country championship entrants must have 20 or less starts and be rated a class five or lower.
Robb said both Mango Liston and Thermosa, a four-year-old gelding that also made the trip to Parkes with Robb, finishing third in the Parkes Services Club Australia Day Handicap (1400m), will be nominated for the western qualifier.
“I just spoke to the handicapper, Thermosa has been set for (the championship heat) for the last six weeks,” Robb said.
... results like that, that’s why punters go to the races in shorts and thongs and the bookies leave in big cars.
- Nyngan trainer Rodney Rodd after a double at Parkes on Thursday.
His promising brown gelding picked up back-to-back wins at Dubbo at the end of 2018, but finished ninth of 11 at Gunnedah in January.
“That was disappointing in Gunnedah, but he had plenty of excuses that day,” Robb continued.
“He was beaten (again on Thursday), and the horse that beat him will likely be his main opposition in Dubbo, too … but he’ll have a few more (kilograms) than us in Dubbo.”
That likely rival Robb refers to is Cecil Hodgson’s A Martin Placepick, the Coonamble-based six-year-old picking up his fifth win in 13 starts at Parkes on Thursday.
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That win over the championship-distance of 1400m was the gelding’s fourth in his last five starts, with the only blemish in that run at second in the Gilgandra Town Plate in early January.
Pending the benchmark points following Thursday’s second-place finish, Robb said Mango Liston’s next run would hopefully be the country championship qualifier on February.
Robb said Thermosa may run at the Geurie picnics on Saturday as well, but both will have their hat in the ring for the $150,000 qualifier.
“It’s good for country people and our horses out here,” Robb said looking at the championships.
“It’s been going now for a couple of years, the build-up is good and, if the horse is fit and ready, you’ve got to throw your hat in the ring for the prizemoney.”
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