SHORT-PRICED favourite Abdicated was made to work for the winner’s cheque when he hung on to a narrow victory in the feature race at Prairie on Saturday.
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Ridden by Dan Ballard and trained by his mother Denise, the $1.50 favourite held on for a 0.3 length victory in the 1200m open handicap.
Abdicated held out Bleaching and Testascana in the final stages of the event.
Jockey Rodney Sue-San took riding honours for the day with a double aboard Blue Jest and Desert Sweep.
Desert Sweep, trained at Julia Creek by Kerry Krogh, validated his $2.25 quote with bookmakers to score an impressive 2.5 length victory in the Class 2 Handicap (1200m).
It was touch-and-go whether the full five races at the iconic Prairie track would be completed after jockeys expressed concern with part of the track after race four, leaving the final race in doubt.
“Riders expressed concerns with the condition of the track between the 600m and the 400m,” the stewards’ report stated.
“Stewards inspected that section of the track and found that the track surface was uneven at that point.
‘‘After track staff had worked to repair inconsistencies in the track surface, stewards conducted a further track inspection and deemed it to be safe.”
MOUNT Isa’s boom sprinter Jabiru Dreaming returned to the racetrack with a credible second placing in Townsville on Sunday.
The Patrick Inwood-trained sprinter was sent out the $3.50 favourite in the weight-for-age race but was no match for Steel Dragon.
Jabiru Dreaming, ridden by Adam Morrison, finished 1.3 lengths astern of the eventual winner.
In the Winter Cup, the George Tipping-trained Buffett ran a typically honest race for fifth in the 1960m staying handicap.
Buffett was one of the fancies for the race, but was beaten just more than three lengths when ridden by Alannah Badger.