GOOD things come to those who wait!
Paul Perry had hoped to win the Provincial-Midway Championships Final at Royal Randwick earlier in the year with his homebred Nosey Parker.
He had run second to the then favorite Tavi Time in a Newcastle Qualifier (1400m) on March 2 after trouncing his rivals over 1200m on his home track a fortnight earlier.
Unfortunately Nosey Parker caught a “bug” and the iconic Newcastle trainer had to withdraw him the previous day from the April 13 $1m Final.
“He had a temperature and I couldn’t run him,” Perry said on Sunday morning.
“So it was nice to get that breakthrough in town at Rosehill Gardens yesterday.”
Ridden by Tommy Berry, $31 outsider Nosey Parker sprinted down the outside from last to take the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1100m).
He defeated $2.15 favorite Spring Lee to post the fifth victory of his 20-start career. His previous four wins had all been at home.
Nosey Parker carries a special significance for both Perry and his wife Cassie, who races the five-year-old gelding.
He was sired by Perry’s now deceased international sprint star Choisir from a High Chaparral mare Ellie’s Gem, whom he bought for $50,000 at the 2013 Inglis Australian Easter yearling sale, and trained.
She raced only four times and, after winning a Gosford Maiden Plate (2100m) in February 2015, broke down at her next start and was retired.
“Ellie’s Gem would have won her next race as well, but bowed a tendon,” Perry said.
Ellie’s Gem’s first foal, a colt by another of Perry’s former crack sprinters Fastnet Rock, died after birth, and her second foal Myeyesadoreyou (an older sister of Nosey Parker) won two races (1500m at Newcastle and 2200m at Scone) and was placed eight times.
Nosey Parker is Ellie’s Gem’s third foal, and Cassie Perry had a good reason for choosing his name.
“The old Nosey Parker was one of Cassie’s first bets when he won a race at Randwick,” Perry explained.
“I remember him well. He was a great old horse who used to be stabled not far from me whenever he came to Newcastle.”
That Nosey Parker raced 64 times for 20 wins and 18 placings (including a third to Manuan in the 1983 Newmarket Handicap at Newcastle), and was trained at Barraba in the New England region of New South Wales.
Whilst Perry was delighted to get a city victory with his Nosey Parker, he rued the fact he just missed clinching a Rosehill double.
Stablemate Forecaster ($26) gave a bold sight in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1400m) before being caught in the closing stages by fellow Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle’s $2.60 favorite The Extreme Cat.
“I really liked Forecaster’s chances,” said Perry, who celebrated his 75th birthday a few weeks ago and, whilst he has cut back his team, continues to enjoy training at Broadmeadow.
. Meanwhile, Doyle clinched a two-track double and went close to a treble.
Along with the Australian Bloodstock-raced The Extreme Cat, he also won the Midway Maiden Handicap (1200m) at Newcastle with lightly-raced mare Ace’s In Bloom ($4.20), who was resuming.
Doyle then went within centimetres of also winning the Rosehill closer with another Australian Bloodstock representative Silvanito ($4.60), who just failed to overhaul $41 bolter Secret Plan in the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1400m).
Story John Curtis, August 4, 2024 - Pics Bradley Photos
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