Lightly raced SA three-year-old Party Crasher could complete a stunning rise to the top should he tackle Saturday week’s Group 1 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm.
Party Crasher, a Kiwi-bred son of Cox Plate winner Ocean Park, improved his record to three wins and two seconds from five starts when he took the benchmark 66 Sportsbet Same Race Multi Handicap (2250m) on the Parks track at Morphettville last Saturday.
Starting the $1.35 favourite under Jake Toeroek, Party Crasher surged past his open-age rivals in the straight to score by two lengths.
Wellington trainer Michael Hickmott indicated the Queensland Derby over 2400 metres was an option for Party Crasher. Victory there would be a remarkable result for a horse who only debuted on March 12.
Party Crasher’s win was the first leg of a double for Hickmott, who went on to take the no-metro-wins Dominant Handicap (1400m) with $2.50 favourite Synchro.
Synchro, a lightly raced four-year-old, led all the way under iIn-form jockey Ben Price to improve his record to five starts for two wins.
Synchro was the first leg of a running double for Price, who scored again 40 minutes later on Merchant Boss ($11) in the benchmark 64 Murray & Barb Stewart Anniversary Handicap (1250m). 
Trained locally by Travis Doudle, Merchant Boss came from midfield to beat $3.60 favourite Big Brute by a half-length.
Star’s daughter shines
Mornington trainer Shane Nichols looks to have a promising type on his hands after two-year-old filly Esha ($7.50) won an open-age maiden plate over 1000 metres on debut at the Parks meeting. 
Purchased for $900,000 at last year’s Gold Coast Magic Millions yearling sale, the Extreme Choice filly led for most of the journey under Jessica Tzaferis for a convincing 3½-length win over fellow two-year-old filly Chisholm. 
Chisholm, who races in the same Kia Ora Stud colours as Esha but is trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent junior, had run second in the $500,000 Inglis 2YO at Flemington last spring.
Punters expected a different result, with Chisholm backed from $1.65 to start the $1.60 favourite and Esha drifting from $4.80 to $7.50.
Esha is bred to be good, being out of I Am A Star, who won nine stakes race in the care of Nichols including the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes.
Dual joy for Justin, Jolly
Jockey Justin Potter and Goolwa trainer David Jolly took the honours with a double apiece at Strathalbyn last Sunday.
Potter opened his account on the Darryl Carrison-trained Zippity Doodah ($2 favourite) in a 1350-metre maiden then combined with Jolly to take a 1600-metre maiden with Dream Baby ($1.50 favourite).
Jolly’s second winner was The Plastics ($14) in a Class 1 handicap over 1100 metres. Apprentice Brooke King was the rider
Farewell, Mr Magic
South Australia lost one of its great racing men with the recent passing of Bob Robertson. Known widely as “Mr Magic”, Robertson had a great passion for the industry. He was a past board member of the SAJC as well as a life member.