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Former New South Wales galloper Jack The Lad has proven an astute purchase by connections after claiming his first South Australian feature in Saturday’s $120,000 Murray Bridge Gold Cup.
A $575,000 yearling who spent the early part of his career under the care of champion trainer Chris Waller, Jack The Lad was plucked from an Inglis Online Sale in 2022 for just $37,500 before finding his way to the Finnis stables of Wayne Francis and Glen Kent.
The eye catching runner-up behind Ironclad in last month's Balaklava Cup, Jack The Lad proved that was no fluke with a dominant 1.1 length win over En Francais with a wall of local horses fighting it out for third.
Kent said they set the horse for the Balaklava Cup and had no option to have another attempt at a SA Country Cup feature following his slashing effort.
"Our plan was to go over to Flemington at the end of the Carnival, but (after Balaklava) I said we've got to go to the Murray Bridge Cup,'' Kent said.
Kent said the key to unlocking the horse's ability had been getting him on better racing surfaces.
"If you look at all his form it was on heavy tracks. As you've seen here, he doesn't like the softer tracks, he likes a firm deck,'' Kent said.
The win capped a memorable day for hard working jockey Justin Potter who scored earlier aboard Jaywick for his father Bruce at $201.
"It's right up there, this day is one I'll never forget,'' Potter said.
"He (Jack The Lad) has really stepped up, he travels sweet and had a full tank of gas when it was time to go,'' he said.
The comeback cameo for former leading local rider Paul Gatt continued, his return to SA netting a riding double aboard the Sue and Jason Jaensch-trained Portation and Whisky 'N' Women in the last race of the day for local horseman Jordan Frew.
Richard and Chantelle Jolly claimed the inaugural Moorundi Classic when Karavas scored a narrow victory as a $2.15 favourite.
"She's a really nice filly, we paid a bit of money for her, she's got a really good pedigree, and you'll see her win better races than this,'' Jolly said.
The stable took that form to Strathalbyn on Sunday producing a winning double in combination with Jake Toeroek who shared riding honours with Sophie Logan who landed her first double since coming out of her apprenticeship.
And at Morphettville on Friday afternoon the Gary and Dean Alexander stable celebrated the official opening of their stables at Murray Bridge earlier that day with a double at the twilight meeting.
Angelic Appeal kicked off their big day before Take Me North was successful, the South African brothers gaining momentum in their new home having trained four winners from their past 10 runners.
