As the seekers once sang ” The carnival is over” and it now time to reflect on the training performances of Grafton based trainers over the carnival.
Day one of the carnival Prelude Day saw Grafton trainers produce two winners.
The feature event of the day the Grafton Cup Prelude was won by the Cathy Chapman prepared Rock The Machine ridden by Justin Stanley.
It was a master training effort By Chapman who had use the local lead up races to perfection Rock The Machine had contested the BM 74 2245m on Ulmarra Cup Day followed by the Grafton Cup Preview 1900m at Ballina in mid June.
This preparation had Rock The Machine primed top be be at his absolute top for the Prelude and with a perfect ride from Stanley who stalked the leader throughout Rock The Machine simply outstayed his rivals to win with some authority.
Whilst a win in the Prelude assured Rock The Machine of a start in the Grafton Cup Chapman was not star struck and took the easier option of the Wards Mistake 2200m on Ramornie Day with the gelding finishing a creditable third.
Grafton’s other winner on day one came courtesy of the Wayne Lawson yard when Picupstixx zoomed through along the inside to score an impressive victory in the Class1 1215m.
Ridden by Dylan Turner Picupstixx settled just forward of midfield before Turner saved ground along the fence to get an inside run on straightening and it was pretty much race over until the final two strides the with second placegetter making a belated lunge for victory.
In the end Picupstixx got the judges nod in a very tight photo.
For Tamworth trainer David Hatch is was a frustrating day with his starters being beaten by the locals in both events.
