Doubles aplenty during Tuesday’s summer races meet at Hamilton

Hamilton Cup 2020 at Hamilton Racecourse on October 14, 2020 in Hamilton, Australia. (Alice Miles/Racing Photos)

By Admin

January 22, 2023 | 4:00 PM

TRAINING and riding doubles highlighted a great day’s racing at Hamilton on Tuesday.

Beau Mertens and Dean Holland notched riding doubles, while high profile trainers, Lindsey Smith, and father and son combination, Tony and Calvin McEvoy, also chalked up doubles.

Mertens in a rare trip to Hamilton teamed up with Smith to win the CoggerGurry Chartered Accountants 4YO+ Maiden Plate on promising galloper, Sabar.

First-up from a spell after one start when runner-up mid-2022, the pair settled just off the speed before quickly putting the field away for an easy win.

He looks a galloper capable of mixing it at midweek city level this preparation.

Mertens’ other win blew punters away early in the day when winning on Ohakune Carrot for Cranbourne-based trainers, Emma-Lee and David Browne.

The combination almost pulled off a long-priced double when Mon Etoile finished second to another promising winner, Laggan.

The second leg of Smith’s double was with Mahrez, ridden by Tom Madden.

Holland and the McEvoy team combined for their respective doubles.

Dillinger lived up to his big first-up run at Terang to win the Riddle Constructions Maiden Plate as an odds-on favourite, while Pontificate was a first-up winner in the Ruth “Margaret” Anne Memorial BM58 Handicap over 1400m.

Both horses will be winning again shortly.

Mitch Freedman and Peter Chow trained the final two winners on the program, Just A Theory and True Nobility, sending punters home on a good note.

A horse to follow from the meeting is the Richie Cully-trained galloper, Cosmic Enigma.

Finishing strongly for second in the bet365 3YO Maiden Plate, the three-year-old will be hard to beat wherever he goes over next start, especially out to 1400m.

The best local performer at the meeting was Dollar Bucks for Trudy Cottier.

Starting at huge odds of $91, the gelding, albeit well beaten, ran well and finished third behind the smart Dillinger.

Results

Race 1 bet365 3YO Maiden Plate 1200m

1st Ohakune Carrot (Beau Mertens/Emma-Lee & David Browne) $15

2nd Cosmic Enigma (Jarrod Fry/Richard Cully) $3.60f

3rd Mr Jones (Dean Holland/Melody Cunningham) $26

Race 2 CoggerGurry Chartered Accountants 4YO+ Maiden Plate 1200m

1st Sabar (Beau Mertens/Lindsey Smith) $2.60f

2nd Lion City (Dean Yendall/Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr) $3.10

3rd Frosty Squirrel (Fred Kersley/Archie Alexander) $15

Race 3 Fishers IGA Maiden Plate 1400m