Two of North West Queensland’s finest will represent the region at Doomben at the for the Country Cups Challenge next month.
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Trainer Jay Morris had only one horse to saddle up on Mount Isa Spring Cup Day but what a horse.
His mount Expat Envy with Dan Ballard aboard was odds on favourite and cruised to victory in the Isa Hotel Spring Cup which doubled as the first qualifying race in North West Queensland for the Country Cups Challenge.
Expat Envy will line up with 15 other country cup winners on George Moore Stakes day at Doomben on 1 December and via for $70,000 in prize money.
The 16 country cups are held between September and November with the second and last chance to qualify in North West Queensland at Cloncurry’s spring races.
Good Job Bro was unlucky to miss out in Mount Isa finishing second to Expat Envy and was looking to make up by winning the Brodie Hardware Cloncurry Cup Handicap.
Like the Isa spring cup this race also doubled up as a Doomben qualifier but sadly the job wasn’t quite good enough again.
Dan Ballard took him to the front early and Good Job Bro led into the straight but Loud Enough soon joined him and went clear to win easily by three and a quarter lengths.
Steven Royes’s Loud Enough with Jason Babarovich aboard is now also in the big race.
Racing Queensland General Manager of Racing (Thoroughbred) Simon Stout said the Country Cups Challenge was a welcome addition to the new-look and highly successful Queensland Summer Racing Carnival.
“I welcome this new series as it provides Racing Queensland with another fabulous opportunity to showcase our regional participants, who are among the country’s most talented and hard-working, to a nationwide audience,” Mr Stout said.
“While the Battle of the Bush put the spotlight on some of the bush’s most hardened sprinters, the Country Cups Challenge will act as a ‘Grand Final’ for Queensland’s country cups circuit.”
READ ALSO: Derby Day intrigue at Cloncurry
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
