TEAM BEER GOES INTO HISTORY BOOKS WITH FIRST ILLAWARRA GRANGE WINNER

FITTINGLY the first race run today at Australia’s newest racetrack stayed in local hands.

Kembla Grange co-trainers Mitch Beer and George Carpenter proudly put their name in the record books when their $1.30 hotpot Above The Law took the Maiden Plate (1450m) on the Illawarra Grange circuit, inside the main course proper.

And it was also the start of a memorable day for the three-year-old gelding’s rider Dylan Gibbons.

Taken to the front soon after the start by Gibbons, Above The Law defeated Solid ($5.50) and Demmo Dermy ($8), and was the first leg of a treble for him.

Gibbons later scored on Chix ($3.80) and Zounaka ($5.50), meaning he rode half of the six-race program.

Beer told Sky Racing after Above The Law’s breakthrough that the addition of the Illawarra Grange track ensured Kembla Grange would continue to be a terrific training venue on Sydney’s doorstep.

“We have trialled and worked on this track for quite some time, and Illawarra Turf Club has done a great job with it,” he said.

“Because it has been especially designed to handle wet weather, racing here now has been winter-proofed.

“And it will also be able to stage transferrred meetings from other venues in our area which are affected by wet weather ”

In regard to Above The Law, the son of Harry Angel was having his first start for his new trainers after previously being prepared in Sydney, and Beer said it was the plan to let him roll along, and Gibbons carried that out perfectly.

“But I was getting a bit worried at one stage in the straight when the runner-up loomed up quickly,” he said.

“I was beginning to think the straight on this track was longer than the course proper, but we got there.”

Team Beer’s success with Above The Law was their 10^th for the current season at home; one behind local trainers’ premiership front-runner Kerry Parker, who did not have a runner at today’s inaugural meeting.

Fellow Kembla Grange trainer Diane Poidevin Laine also was a winner at her new home track’s opening day.

Poidevin Laine took the Conditional Benchmark 68 Handicap (1450m) with Audenzia ($4.40).

Ridden by Pierre Boudvillain, Audenzia defeated Astunner ($15) and $2 favorite Ishikara.

Audenzia has now won four races; the first three on the course proper, when Boudvillain also partnered her.

Leading Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup clinched a double to take his season’s tally to 48.

Widdup scored in consecutive races with favorites Whoa Nellie ($1.50) and Tequisoda ($3.70).

Tyler Schiller partnered Whoa Nellie in the Provincial Maiden Handicap (1300m), and Christian Reith replaced Tommy Berry (who stayed in Central Queensland to win the postponed $1m The Archer at Rockhampton on Yellow Brick), on Tequisoda in the Midway Benchmark 64 Handicap (1400m).

Widdup had also posted a double at Wyong last Thursday, and also won with Bella Khadijah at his home track’s stand-alone meeting last Saturday.

“It’s great to get a double any time, but especially for Mike Gregg’s Mulberry Racing,” he said this evening.

Deep Field filly Whoa Nellie was one of four horses Widdup purchased as yearlings on behalf of Mulberry at the 2024 Magic Millions sale in Perth – and all have won.

“Seven Days, Bondi Blossom and Azure Angel had all won before, and Whoa Nellie is the last of them to win,” Widdup said.

“That was only her third start, and she is still raw and 12 months away from being fully matured.”

Pierro three-year-old Tequisoda has now won twice, and was beginning a new campaign, not having raced since December.

Widdup is hoping to carry his current winning form into Gosford’s stand-alone fixture on Saturday, with Sunset Park in the $300,000 Gold Cup (2100m).

He has booked Rachel King for the mare, who won the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington last spring on wet ground.

Whilst Novocastrian Gibbons (now based in Sydney) took the riding honors at the Illawarra Grange track, Newcastle apprentice Liberty Smyth stole the show at the corresponding Taree meeting.

The Central Queensland native, apprenticed to Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle, rode her first treble.

She was successful on Kissavos ($1.35 favorite), Talana ($12) and Silver Tempest ($6.50).

Smyth, though an experienced horsewoman, did not begin her riding career until late December and has now ridden 22 winners, today’s treble reducing her 3kg country allowance to 2kg.

Gosford trainer Kylie Gavenlock also was in the winner’s list at Taree, with four-year-old mare Koritsi ($2.10 favorite) in the F&M Maiden Plate (1262m).

STORY JOHN CURTIS, MAY 5, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS