HORSE RACING

JEROME Hunter will be looking to land his first Group One win this weekend as his star filly Barb Raider lines up in the feature Queensland Oaks (2200m) as one of the leading contenders.

After running a narrow second in the Group One Australasian Oaks (2000m) in South Australia at the end of April, Hunter turned his focus towards the Queensland Racing Carnival.

Despite having a month between runs, Barb Raider came out and won the Group Two The Roses (2100m) at Eagle Farm last Saturday with her regular rider Craig Williams in the saddle.

“It was a 10 out of 10 ride,” Hunter said post-race. “She’s had a month between runs as well so I think she’ll be even better heading towards the Oaks.”

The Group Two race was delayed a week because of the heavy rainfall that struck Doomben the week prior and was transferred to Eagle Farm.

Despite the extra week off, the tough filly showed plenty of fight to fend off her rivals and win by a long neck over another Victorian-trained filly, Belle Savoir.

Hunter says the re-scheduling of the race probably worked in their favour but now leaves just a seven-day turnaround heading into her main target.

“It’s not ideal (the seven-day turnaround) but we’re all in the same boat,” he said. “We had bad weather last week and it was probably a blessing in disguise for us. We tried her on the heavy track in Sydney and that didn’t work out.”

Craig Williams was adamant the filly would also improve having had a look around the track.

“I could feel that she would benefit from having the competition today and going around right-handed for the lead up to the main race,” he said. “She’s only going to springboard off of today’s performance.”

Williams added: “Jerome Hunter has done a marvellous job with her and the owners (Graeme and Barbara Gathercole) give him the confidence to let him train the horse the best way he can to get that Group One win for them and that’s why she’s here seven days before the main target.”

First published in the Mornington News – 31 May 2022