30/04/15
Toowoomba’s signature sprint race, the Weetwood Handicap, may be run and won on Saturday at Clifford Park racetrack, with “may” being the operative word, judging by the latest weather forecast. Punters nationwide would be well advised not to bet early into fixed odds markets at any upcoming South-East Queensland meeting in coming days, until just before the race, as if the weather forecast is accurate Toowoomba and Ipswich tracks which stage the two main TAB meetings on Saturday could be badly rain affected or in the worst case scenario may not race at all. I can advise that the city of Ipswich has had only a sprinkle overnight but the weather looks to be closing in this morning.
I fully realize that the Weather Bureau much of the time wouldn’t be able to predict which direction the sun would rise in the morning. They would probably need a “50/50” or “phone a friend” option to get it right, but they do seem pretty adamant that they have accurately portrayed this upcoming rain event starting today and spreading across tomorrow and part of Saturday.
Anyway back to the score at the Test – and the Weetwood Handicap is worth $150,000 in total prizemoney with the winner getting to pocket $96,000. A total of 29 horses were nominated for the Weetwood Handicap. The Handicapper thought the quality of the field for this year’s version of the race was good – as he scaled the weights down 2kgs and he weighted Excellantes as topweight with 59kgs. All bar seven of the 29 nominated horses were weighted on the limit – 54kgs – which means that just under 76% of the nominations were weighted on the limit.
After acceptances were taken yesterday morning a total of 19 horses remained in the race – but with the maximum field size at that 1200-metre start being 14, five emergencies were declared.
As a matter of interest the Weetwood Handicap was first run back in 1895 when a horse called Zulu was successful.
Abruzzi, which was mentioned in yesterday’s Toowoomba Cup story on this website, won the Weetwood in 1944.
Fire Box won the Weetwood in 1965. By Boxwood, the stallion that also sired Queensland star Earlwood (Queensland Derby, two Doomben Cups, Queensland Guineas), Box Hero was certainly an adaptable galloper as apart from winning a Weetwood Handicap on the grass, he also won an Albion Park 2000 on the sand circuit at Albion Park.
Plenty of horses have won the Weetwood twice since say 1960. High Prince won the Weetwood in both 1961 and 1963. The Ken Waterford trained Red Shah won consecutive versions of the race in 1966 and 1967 and on both occasions Frank Treen rode the horse. The speedy Wine And Song for trainer Jim Griffiths and jockey Merv Wrigley won in both 1969 and 1970. The flashy chestnut Combo got home in 1974 and 1975 for trainer Billy Neilsen. Toowoomba based jockey Terry Tewes rode Combo in 1974, whilst Mel Schumacher had the sit in 1975. Trainer Kevin Kemp and jockey Stathi Katsidis had a wonderful association where the Weetwood was concerned and they combined to win with Tellem in both 2005 and 2007. The latest horse to win two Weetwood Handicaps was Miss Imagica. She won in 2012 and 2013 and in an all-local affair the mare was trained by Michael Nolan and two Toowoomba jockeys were employed for steering duties. Nori Yamada rode the mare to victory on 2012 and Skye Bogenhuber, the first female jockey to ever win a Toowoomba premiership – won on her in 2013.
Since 1990 above average gallopers to win the Weetwood have been Tiny’s Finito (1991), Seawinne (1995), Kidman’s Cove (1997), Startell (2001) and the Group 1 winner Swiss Ace in 2008.
Jockey Stathi Katisidis has the extraordinary distinction of winning the race five times between the Year 2000 and 2007 inclusive – as per the undermentioned table.
From 2001 inclusive local trainer Kevin Kemp has trained four winners – Startell (2001), Tellem (2005 and 2007) and Typhoon Red (2014). This year he is represented again by Typhoon Red as well as Kempelly.
Here’s a list of Weetwood Handicap winners from the Year 2000 up to the present day:
YEAR
WINNER
JOCKEY
TRAINER
WEIGHT
2015
?
2014
Typhoon Red
N. Tomizawa
K. Kemp
55.0
2013
Miss Imagica
S. Bogenhuber
M. Nolan
55.0
2012
Miss Imagica
N. Yamada
M. Nolan
54.0
2011
Lucky Leak
B. El-issa
P. Sexton
56.0
2010
Poor Judge
C. Munce
N. Hilton
56.0
2009
Voice Commander
T. Angland
N. Olive
55.0
2008
Swiss Ace
K. Pope
M. Mair
54.0
2007
Tellem
S. Katsidis
K. Kemp
56.5
2006
October Grey
M. Cahill
M. Brosnan
53.0
2005
Tellem
S. Katsidis
K. Kemp
53.0
2004
Devil
S. Katsidis
G. Osborne
54.5
2003
Ceffyl
J. Byrne
R. Maund
55.5
2002
Ours
J. Taylor
T. Webb
51.0
2001
Startell
S. Katsidis
K. Kemp
52.5
2000
Vacen Lee
S. Katsidis
A. Doyle
53.0
Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s the second montage of photos from the Gold Coast last Saturday. On www.sydneyracing.com.au there’s a story on the stallion Dubawi and after reading that story, which has been put together by breeding guru Brian Russell, one can conclude that the mare Srikandi would be worth a fortune as a broodmare if she can win the 2015 Stradbroke, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Victorian racing is perused.