Tough Ollie Bounces Up To Land A Winner
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday December 7, 2007
DAMIEN Oliver brushed off the marks of the Happy Valley turf to finish third in the International Jockeys' Championship in Hong Kong on Wednesday night - and now for Perth.
Oliver's wife Trish was on course at Happy Valley when her husband's mount Classa Win clipped heels and fell in the opening leg of the three-race invitational series, eventually won by Hong Kong-based South African star Douglas Whyte."Luckily I bounced straight back to my feet when I hit the deck," said Oliver, who won the series in 2003. "I was travelling like a winner at the time the horse came down, too. The series is one that got away on me."Oliver won the final leg of the challenge on Dr Possi and was only four points behind Whyte. He will return to Australia to partner Mansion House, which is soon to be trained by David Hayes, in the Kingston Town Classic at Ascot in Perth where boom galloper El Presidente awaits."He ran a great race in the Railway Stakes when third to El Presidente," Oliver said. "Obviously that horse is going to be hard to beat again but Mansion House doesn't know how to run a bad race. He'll be thereabouts."Inspirational tip Darren Beadman may have ridden without success at Happy Valley on Wednesday night but he gave punters a strong push for the John Moore-trained Inspiration at Sha Tin on Sunday. "I've got a few rides on Sunday and Inspiration looks to be the pick of them," he said. "He is racing well and is ready to win a race."Beadman will ride the Moore-trained Joyful Winner in the Hong Kong Mile and gives the galloper a fluker's hope."Whether or not he runs out a really strong mile remains to be seen but he is racing well and he'll give a sight," he said.The jockey is a retained rider with Moore and recently had his Hong Kong contract extended until the end of the local racing season in June.Beadman won the International Cup Trial on Viva Pataca for Moore but Melbourne Cup-winning Irish jockey Michael Kinane takes over in the Hong Kong Cup on Sunday.With a Bullet Just on a month into setting up a satellite stable at Hawkesbury, trainer Tracey Bartley is set to welcome back his Stradbroke Handicap winner Sniper's Bullet. The four-year-old is due to return to Bartley's Mudgee stable on Monday.Bartley has 11 runners at the Mudgee meeting on Friday, with Spoilt Matilda in two races."I think Spoilt Matilda is my best chance," he said. "She is right on song for the 1100 metres."On Saturday, Bartley will trek to Kembla Grange where Sniper's Bullet's full-brother Slick Sniper runs, along with stablemates Disrepute and Spectacular Iam."Slick Sniper raced a bit greenly in a Rosehill trial the other day and I'll probably send him out after Saturday," Bartley said. "I did think about running Disrepute at Rosehill but I thought Kembla was a better option while Spectacular Iam did a good job winning at Kembla last start and can score again."Bartley said there had been a few teething problems setting up at Hawkesbury but "we're ironing them out" while admitting it was disappointing to miss the spring carnivals in Melbourne and Sydney with Sniper's Bullet. "But it may prove a real blessing," he said. "It may be the best thing that's happened to him. With the break he looks terrific, he has filled out, furnished into a real nice horse."Sniper's Bullet will be set for the Doncaster Handicap at the revamped Sydney autumn carnival.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald