The opening day of the Warrnambool May Racing Carnival will feature the next leg of the VOBIS Gold Premier Race Series, with ten sprinters set to contest the $100,000 Callaghan Motors VOBIS Gold Strike (1000m) tomorrow.
The competitive line-up includes speedy juveniles saddled by some of Victoria’s leading trainers, with Darren Weir, the Lindsay Park stable, Leon and Troy Corstens and the in-form Greg Eurell all represented.
Local interest is provided by trainer Symon Wilde, who has stables in both Warrnambool and Ballarat.
Weir will hope to extend his remarkable record at the Warrnambool Carnival with She’s Our Reward, a bargain buy for Blueblood Thoroughbreds at the 2017 Inglis VOBIS Gold Yearling Sale. The filly was bred by long-time Victorian breeder Barbara Ivill, who also bred VOBIS star Widgee Turf.
Weir has also entered Limeshow, a half-sister to her stablemate Limestone, who won the Group 3 Blue Diamond Fillies Preview last year; and also to Gimlet, who won this race in 2016.
Meanwhile, the Lindsay Park team will be reliant on Dame Of Thrones, whose dam Kamarla Rose won on her debut as a three-year-old, and is a half-sister to the talented Portman.
The father-son Corstens combination have enjoyed recent success with VOBIS starlet Thrillster, who has already amassed almost $350,000 in prizemoney with two wins and a runner-up finish from her three career starts.
The duo will hope Fast And Ready, a half-sister to the recent Ladbrokes Park winner Dinner Lake, can live up to her speedy moniker.
Eurell produced three winners from three runners at Racing.com Park last Thursday, and was also successful with Flying Murty at Caulfield on Saturday. The Cranbourne-based trainer is aiming to continue his fine run of recent form with Celestial Shower, whose dam was a very handy horse in her day.
Celestial Show won the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes in 2000, finished seventh in that year’s Melbourne Cup and was also narrowly beaten in the following year’s Caulfield Cup, finishing third behind by Ethereal and Sky Heights.
Local hopes rest largely on Skyway Star and Mischa, who are both trained by Wilde.
Racecourse debutant Skyway Star, who will be ridden by Warrnambool native Daniel Moor, was sired by Americain, the winner of the 2010 Melbourne Cup. Mischa, the mount of Linda Meech, will be hoping to improve in her second run, having finished fifth on debut at Warrnambool last month.
The VOBIS Gold Strike is the fifth of ten races on the day, and gets underway at 1.45pm.
For comprehensive press notes on the VOBIS Gold Strike, click here.