Weight No Barrier For Big Boy

Cluden trainer Graham Hughes is confident tough gelding Burraneer Boy can make his mark in open company after another big weight carrying win at Cluden Park on Tuesday.

Burraneer Boy continued his golden relationship with jockey Ivo Fry when he stormed home under 62.5kg to win the Ladbrokes BM 70 Hcp (1400m).

The win was the Denman gelding’s fifth win from nine starts since he joined Hughes’ stables and his fourth win for Fry.

“Ivo’s in love with him. He knows the horse really well and got him home again today from a fair way back,” Hughes said.

“He’s been a good horse to us. He’s a big strong fella and he just keeps coming.”

Hughes was confident Burraneer Boy could post another win after a slashing fourth to Cherry Rose in the Magic Millions Country Cup Qualifier (1200m) at Cluden on December 28.

Dropping back to the BM70 and rise to his pet 1400m distance was the plan.

It was just a case of toughing out a sharp jump in weight from 54kg to 62.5kg.

“The other day it was leader bias and fence bias and we didn’t get on the fence or near the leaders,” Hughes said.

“So making ground to finish fourth in that race was a good pointer for today even though he went up a fair bit in weight.

“The 1200m the other day isn’t his ideal distance but I thought I’d start him there and then into the 1400m and the plan came together.

“That win makes him around a 76 rater so I’d say it’s on to open company which will make it tougher.

“But I think he’ll run a mile or fresh he might run a good 1300m on a good track so who knows.”

The win was a welcome win for Hughes whose 97-year-old mother Kate passed away last week.

Hughes’ father Bluey and mum Kate had considerable success with horses in Longreach years ago and trained Legal Link to finish third in a Cleveland Bay Hcp – a race Graham won in 1979 with Prince Lonely.

Veteran jockey Graham Kliese, now also a trainer, was more than happy to cheer from the sidelines when riding colleague Lacey Morrison won again on Molongle Surprise.

Morrison made it two wins from two rides on the rising 10-year-old in the Smirnoff Open Hcp (1000m) with trainer and regular rider Kliese watching from the jockeys’ room.

He said he knew the old boy was ready to run a big race, thriving with the cooler change during the recent heavy rain.

But the hardest part has been getting Morrison back on board the veteran sprinter since she won on him at Cluden in October.

“A couple weeks ago I chased her up and asked her if she wanted to ride Molongle and she said yeh and I said done. He really runs for her,” Kliese said, 

“The heat worries him but with this rainy weather it’s been cooler and I’ve noticed a change in him riding track work.

“He ran a good race for me last start when he finished fourth. He had missed work leading into that and he had been a long time between runs.

“That toughened him up and it was just two weeks into this one, and he drew perfectly and Lacey did everything right.”

Despite his age, Molongle Surprise was having just his 26th race start on Tuesday and in winning chalked up his 10th career win.

Kliese said the stable favourite would continue on while he remained sound and he had no qualms handing over the reins to Morrison.

“Seriously, nowadays I get way more enjoyment out of training a winner because of the work that goes into it,” Kliese said.

“Belinda (wife) does so much of the work with him. To keep him cool she puts ice vests on him every morning after he works.”

Meanwhile, smart three-year-old Bang Stick posted a brilliant win in the Cowboys Leagues Club QTIS 3YO Hcp (1400m).

The Tom Button-trained gelding barely raised a sweat as he sped to an effortless 31/2 length win.