Gawler Weekly Recap
Wednesday
Wednesday’s 10-race Gawler program kicked off with a pair of winners for trainer Brenda Oakey in the first two race on the card.
The first winner was Opal Sassy, who arrived in South Australia as a 21-start maiden after stints in New South Wales and Western Australia.
Getting a start wearing the reserve rug from box seven, Opal Sassy was locked in an early battle with Frenetic Fury but was able to cross over and get away winning by two lengths.
Happy Sky made it two winners for Oakey, showing plenty of early dash from box seven and powering away and winning by six lengths in 23.04.
A small but competitive field contested the Open race on the program, which was taken out by the Aartie Verhoef trained Air Cruiser.
Last away in the four-dog field, Air Cruiser quickly mustered speed through on the rail but had five lengths to make up on the early leader Emerley Apollo.
The lead was cut to just two on the turn, and when Emerley Apollo ran wide it allowed Air Cruiser to swoop through on the rail to win in a best of the day time of 22.69.
It was career win number nine to go with eight placings in 30 career starts for Air Cruiser.
The red box was a popular draw on the Wednesday card, with four runners winning from the inside alley.
The first was Stylish Affair for trainer John Munday who beat Punt and Pints in an extremely tight finish to the grade 6 over the 400m trip. Blue Yap for Steven Brook made it consecutive box one winners with Blue Yap upsetting favourite Rico Nismo in winning in 22.98.
Aston Encanto for Paul Fagan also won a grade six from one in 22.91 before Blazing Butters for Robyn Mackellar showed all its speed in winning a grade five over the 400m trip in 22.83.
Friday
Friday’s Gawler program was headlined by two heats of a grade six series over the 531m trip with both heat winners eventually prevailing from box one.
Heat one was taken out by the Ben Rawlings-trained North Bleachers.
Starting as the favourite from box one, North Bleachers was away well and got a nice run through to second place behind Sweet Soul, who shifted up the track slightly from box two.
While Sweet Soul led to the turn, North Bleachers was able to go past on the home straight pulling away and winning by two lengths in 31.52.
It was career win number four at start number 11 for North Bleachers and was its first success over the 531m distance.
The second heat of the series was taken out by the Robyn Mackellar-trained Peace Belle, with an excellent performance to continue an excellent recent run for Mackellar’s kennel.
Also from box one, Peace Belle showed plenty of early speed and was able to hold the rail from Lauren’s Regret who tried to cross over from box eight.
With the lead, Peace Belle was able to make the most of clear running and held off the fast-finishing Elegant Bix to win by two lengths in 31.35.
Friday’s meeting also saw the recent good run for Bosko Stamenkovic and his kennel continue after grabbing a double on the 12-race card.
The first was in the maiden event, with Enchufla winning by four lengths from box one in 22.99 after showing plenty of early speed to put his rivals away.
The second winner was Magical Friend who was able to match it with Blossom Michelle in the early speed battle before pull away down the back and kicking away to win by three lengths in 22.72 which was a best of the day time.
Nicole Price also grabbed a double on the Friday card with a pair of nice winners beginning with Prime Of Life who made it eight career wins from 41 starts with a seven length win in 22.90.
The lightly raced Obsession was the second winner for Price, grabbing career win number three in start number seven after winning by two lengths in 22.96 to take out a grade six race over the 400m trip.
Racing continues at Gawler this week with meetings on Wednesd