ZOOQALO made a dominant return to Mount Isa at the weekend when Lacey Morrison guided the seven-year-old sprinter to victory in the 1200 metre Kokoda Trail Open Handicap at Buchanan Park.
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The Stephen Royes-trained gelding led the field with stablemate and even-priced favourite Anconi for most of the race before digging deep on the home straight to get past the post by two lengths in a time of one minute, 11.3 seconds.
Sandwood, who started the race at $2.50 alongside Anconi, finished second, beating Anconi by half a head.
The win was the first back at Buchanan Park for Morrison, who was visibly elated at being back in the winner's circle after an extended absence from racing.
Montanus, top weight in the race at 63 kilograms, had the best form going into the event with two wins from its last two starts in Mount Isa, but the big gelding had to settle for fourth place.
The second placing on Sandwood rounded out a strong day in the saddle for jockey Dan Ballard, who finished with two wins and two second placings in the five-race program.
Ballard guided Argolis home in the Gallipoli Maiden Plate, narrowly pipping the Patrick Inwood-trained Dexterity by a short neck.
The heavily-backed favourite Desmosedici, which started the race as $1.70 favourite, finished fourth.
