Two horses enjoyed first career wins at Geraldton Turf Club for Melbourne Cup race day

Following the excitement of WA jockey Mark Zahra winning his second straight Melbourne Cup, locals found success on the track at the Geraldton Turf Club. All eyes were on Flemington at 12pm on Tuesday, November 7, when the race that stops the nation kicked off with Vauban, ridden by jockey Ryan Moore, the favourite to win with odds at $5.50. Others that people were keeping their eye on included last year’s winning horse Gold Trip under jockey James McDonald, with their odds sitting at $6.50. However, it was the $8 horse Without A Fight which took out the win, led by WA’s Zahra. After that excitement, there was a full race day that took place at the Geraldton Turf Club, with local trainers winning five out of the seven races. In the first race at 1.52pm Mooniemia took the early lead, with Viking Forever and Cable Girl following close behind. As the pack came around the home bend, Where’s My Lunch shot from back of the field to the front over Holy Spy for a maiden win during the final stretch. At odds of $8.50, Where’s My Lunch was ridden by jockey Jessica Valenti and is trained by Robert Martin. Race two came with an upset, as the heavy favourite Hillside Horace, which was paying $1.70, placed third. As the pack came out Special Plan was leading the pack, but Hillside Horace started working from the back on the outside along with Random Rewards, who shot past in the final 150m to take a late win over the favourite. Random Rewards, ridden by Jerry Noske and trained by Murray Wallace, was another horse enjoying its first win, paying $10. The next race came down to the wire as Juruena Gold shot to try and steal the win but Adam Durrant’s Speed Bubble held on under jockey Zephen Johnston-Porter, paying $4.40 for the win. After winning race two, Noske jockeyed the winning horse in race four with the $7.50 What A Prince, trained by Barry Newnham. The fifth race was taken out again by the combination of Durrant and Johnston-Porter with the favourite, Russian Sniper. The penultimate race was not much of a contest at the end. The pack looked tight coming around the bend but Uni Queen pulled well away from the pack to take the win as a final push from Mombasa came too late. Uni Queen was the horse at longest odds to win on Tuesday at $14.80, ridden by Rosie Mahony and trained by Graeme Hammarquist. The final race had the $2.50 favourite Patchwork expected to take the win, but in the final stretch it couldn’t get past Westozi and had to settle for second. Wayne David rode the final winner which paid $10.60 for the win, and it was trained by Albert Bowtell. After the successful Melbourne Cup day celebrations, Geraldton Turf Club will be back to weekend races for the next meet on Saturday, November 18. RESULTS: Race 1: Where’s My Lunch (4), Holy Spy (1), Kinky Boots (8) Race 2: Random Rewards (8), Special Plan (10), Hillside Horace (4) Race 3: Speed Bubble (1), Juruena Gold (5), Sanabeau (7) Race 4: What A Prince (1), Glass Off (12), Yes Miss Jane (9) Race 5: Russian Sniper (7), Startthefriar (3), Significant Hero (5) Race 6: Uni Queen (6), Mombasa (8), Kazkazi (4) Race 7: Westozi (8), Patchwork (12), Be Seated (7)