STABLEFORD SHOOTOUT 2018
Reporter Curby's write up:
Forget The Everest!! Today’s Breakers Stableford Shootout was the place to be! What a day weatherwise – the right amount of wind and sunshine to make a huge difference to the race track. A large amount of excited spectators were present to see these record breaking fillies trot their stuff and what a field it was! Competition was fierce in order to obtain a much coveted spot in this year’s Shootout. The field read as follows:
- In Barrier 1 the Filly from the McInerney stable – a proven sprinter – not sure how this frisky filly will handle today’s heavy track. This filly was the highest qualifier for this prestigious event and is highly motivated.
- In Barrier 2 – the Filly from the Chilman stable – this filly may be small in stature but, when she puts her mind to it, she can outclass the best of them. She did this in order to gain her spot today as the second highest qualifier.
- In Barrier 3 – the Filly from the Holt stable – a relative new comer to this event. Again she can bolt when required as proven by her position as qualifier number three.
- In Barrier 4 – the Filly from the Gibson stable – this horse can certainly punch above her weight! Highly competitive and a real chance as proven by her track record.
- In Barrier 5 – the young Filly from the Fox stable – this Filly has had some wonderful runs of late and will be one to watch as she gains the sort of experience this event will give her.
- In Barrier 6 – the thoroughbred Filly from the Dwyer stable. What a promising young filly is this one! A relative new comer to the turf but one with a real future!
- In Barrier 7 – another thoroughbred, relatively young but with a wealth of experience. This filly from the Chapman stable always performs consistently.
- In Barrier 8 – the third thoroughbred of the group today. This filly out of the Hopkins stable has a real head for competitive racing and with the biggest weight today will need to have plenty of staying power.
The starter’s pistol sounded and the fillies bolted! Leading the way to the second furlong was the Chapman filly, closely followed by the Chilman, Fox, Gibson, McInerney, Holt, Dwyer, Hopkins fillies and at the end of the field came the Higgins filly who dropped out of the race her.
The third furlong saw the Chilman, Holt, Gibson, Fox, Dwyer and Chapman fillies all fighting for the lead. A ‘chip-off’ between the fillies from the Hopkins and McInerney stables saw the McInerney filly retire.
There was fierce competition as the fillies headed for the fourth furlong. Again the competition saw a tie for last and the fillies from the Chilman and Holt stables completed another chip-off. This forced the tiny filly from the Holt stable to call it quits for this year.
Then there were six fillies all with steaming nostrils rounding the bend to the fifth furlong. Once again a tie meant another chip-off between the fillies from the Hopkins and Fox stables with the Hopkins filly, carrying the extra weight, again putting her head in front on the run for the sixth furlong.
Leading the way to the sixth furlong came the fillies from the Chilman, Dwyer, Chapman and Hopkins stable with the filly from the Gibson stable forced to retire. She’ll be back this Gibson filly, plenty of grunt in this one! And now there were four! Will the experience of the fillies from the Chapman and Hopkins stables outclass the two young Chilman and Dwyer fillies? Once again the filly from the Hopkins stable was involved in a chip-off with the Dwyer stable entry. Can this Hopkins filly keep on winning these chip-offs? What a gutsy performance! And so the full of promise filly from the Dwyer stable was forced to retire.
Excitement was mounting as the field could smell the finish line – and now there were three as they headed for the second last furlong. Who will survive? The fillies from the Chapman and Hopkins stables or the rank outsider from the Chilman stable? With heads down the race was on in earnest – oh no! Not another chip-off! Can you believe it – it’s between the fillies from the Chapman stable and, once again, the highly weighted, filly from the Hopkins stable! Unbelievable! The highly experienced, competitive Hopkins filly again survives and so it’s off to the pasture for the filly from the Chapman stable. A great run but not quite good enough today.
And so it was down to two – gallop by gallop down to the finish line they came – neck to neck! It came down to the final dash for the finish line and, wow, what a touch of class this outsider from the Chilman stable showed. One outstanding bolt for the line and the Chilman filly was over! The winner! The crowd roared their appreciation as the filly from the Hopkins stable graciously admitted defeat. What a race! You should have been there! Congratulations to the Chilean stable on a great win!!!
