It was a long weekend of racing with a difference in Adelaide.
Jason Holder had a riding double albeit two days apart after the abandonment of Morphettville on Saturday due to the TAB outage, while Jess Eaton’s stellar season continued partnering Magna Bella and Like A Heartbeat (bred and part-owned by racing.com’s James Jordan) to victory on Monday.
Holder was in the saddle aboard Star Status on Saturday for the Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas stable before punching home impressive filly Exalted Zoe for Grant Young on Monday.
It was the lightly-raced filly's third win from five starts in what looms an exciting campaign for the Ken and Helen Smith owned three-year-old.
The $100,000 Happy Trails Series Final was won by the John Hickmott-trained Magnetic Edge on the back of a brilliant Parks ride by Jeff Maund who hunted the fence and saved ground, before powering away to defeat the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Renegade.
Wedged between the two days of racing at Morphettville was Penola on Sunday where Jacob Opperman took riding honours with a double.
Across the border the South Australian Carnival form was to the fore in the TAB Matriarch Stakes with Dan O’Sullivan’s Affair To Remember, bred and raced by former SAJC Chairman David Peacock scoring in the last stride, while SA Oaks winner Toffee Tongue finished third.
It was a big win, a deserving win for a horse who doesn’t help herself with her tendency to drop out early and give rivals a start.
"She certainly deserves it, she's been racing well,’’ O’Sullivan said post race.
"She doesn't help herself, she walked out of the barriers again,’’ he said.
Peter Jolly’s Morvada and the Gordon Richards-trained Bold Star were both placed behind Phillip Stokes’ Sansom on the Group 3 Chatham Stakes, Wings Of Pastrami and Aqueduct just behind the placegetters in the mile race.
And while it was away from the main stage Lachlan Neindorf continued his rise up the riding ranks with a double at Sale on Monday to bring up his 100th career win, made more special in grabbing a win for his bosses Anthony and Sam Freedman.
“Congratulations and well done @LNeindorf. Two great rides yesterday. Building momentum nicely for a big summer,’’ the stable tweeted.