Wangaratta trainers achieved what is probably a first at Berrigan in southern NSW last Saturday, taking out the entire card.
John and Chris Ledger got the ball rolling when they took out the first, the Members and Patrons Maiden Plate over 1100 metres, with Light The Sage ($8). Apprentice Alice Kennedy was the rider.
Ashleigh Smith took the Brian Dorman Memorial BM50 over the same trip with Add Milk ($13), ridden by Logan McNeil.
The Cub Maiden Handicap over 1400 metres went to Barrett Reef ($5), ridden by Brodie Loy for Dan McCarthy.
McCarthy scored again in the Robbie Saunders Memorial BM50 (1400m) with Black Adam ($4), giving Kennedy a riding double.
The Ledgers struck again to round out the five-race card, taking the Bernard Curtin Tribute BM50 with Captain Barbossa ($3.20), completing a double for Loy.
Back home, a brace for Ben
Wangaratta stables kept up their run of form at their home track the next day, scoring in four of the eight races.
Craig Weeding kicked off with Kokonda ($1.95 favourite), who won the second, the John Wohlers Jewellers Maiden Plate (1400m), with Jake Duffy aboard. District trainers completed the trifecta, with the Hayes brothers’ Euroa stable and local Tim Grace filling second and third respectively with Fierce Ruby and Skilled Sailor.
Race three saw Andrew Dale take out the race named in his honour, the Andrew Dale — WTC Trainer of the Year Maiden Plate (1000m), with $1.85 favourite Cha Cha King, ridden by Logan McNeil.
Again district trainers made it a trifecta, with Bourdeto second for the Hayeses and Tallingas Avanti third for Ashleigh Smith.
Wangaratta’s Ben Brisbourne was almost unstoppable in the final two races on the card, with first and third in race seven then first, second and sixth in race eight.
The Mason Park Funerals BM56 over 1590 metres saw Brisbourne team up with Ryan Houston to win with Sheer Lunacy ($16), who was on a six-day back-up after a fifth at Wodonga.
Andrew Dale and Teo Nugent took second with King Incanto while Brisbourne’s third placegetter was The Quiet Immortal, under Lachlan King.
In the final race on the card, the Melbourne Cup @ Wangaratta – On Sale Now, a benchmark 56 over 2000 metres, Brisbourne’s quinella came via Azeola ($20) and Lightning Flash.
The local longshot Azeola, with Alice Kennedy aboard, narrowly got the better of the $3.90 favourite, who hails from Brisbourne’s Flemington stable and had Billy Egan aboard.
