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Weir aces Cup day feature By Ben Triandafillou THOUSANDS of race goers packed into the Mornington Racecourse on Sunday 4 November for the annual Peninsula Cup. The highlight of the year for the Mornington Racecourse saw a crowd of more than 9,300 people flock into the stands to witness the Warrnambool-based master trainer, Darren Weir, claim yet another country cup. Having also won the Mornington Cup in March with Kings Will Dream, Weir backed-up his success on Sunday to take out the Peninsula Cup with five-year-old stallion, Royal Ace. Despite drifting in the market before the race, Royal Ace managed to run over the heavily supported Mornington-based gelding, Call It A Day, in the final 50 metres of the straight to land the victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the son of Casino Prince who claimed a benchmark 78 race at Moe in emphatic fashion at his start prior. Royal Ace held a half-length margin over the Wez Hunter-trained Call It A Day (second) and the Maher/ Eustace-trained gelding, Black Sail (third). Winning jockey Ben Allen said his mount, Royal Ace, can be quite a good horse when he starts to switch on. “He’s definitely got his own personality,” Allen said. “When he does have his mind on the job, he can really gallop so that was good.
“I was happy [with the pace], he was in a rhythm and it was just a nice gallop the whole way and I think that’s what made him come into the race really well. “It’s good to get another winner for Weiry and the team, so I couldn’t be happier.” Gallant runner-up, Call It A Day, is likely to back-up into a 2000m race at Flemington on Saturday 10 November, according to trainer Wez Hunter. Hunter said he thought his gelding was very tough, after having a hard run out in front. “I thought he was very brave,” he said. “Ideally we would have wanted a softer lead but he stuck on bravely and I thought he did well.” “He licked out the bin this morning (Monday), and even though he hasn’t raced over 2000m, I think he’ll run it out strongly. “He’ll be hard fit having had 11 starts this preparation and he’s racing very well.” Gun Sydney-based jockey, Tommy Berry, is likely to stay aboard Call It A Day when he heads to Flemington. Overall, the Mornington-based trainers had a relatively successful day at the feature race meeting with the Tony Noonan-trained Raven’s Blaze (Race 3) and the Chris Meagher-trained Born Bad (Race 2) both saluting earlier in the day. The Tony Noonan-trained mare, Raven’s Blaze, was one of the most dominant winners on the card, scoring a comfortable 3.25-length victory to
break her maiden first-up. Following the victory, Noonan said he’ll give the mare another run in two to three weeks’ time before looking towards the autumn for softer tracks. The Chris Meagher-trained gelding,
Born Bad, was also a strong maiden winner at his second career start. The win landed apprentice jockey, Jessica Eaton, her first victory at Mornington for her master trainer, Chris Meagher.
Ace race: A bumper crowd descended on Mornington Race Course to witness Royal Ace take out the Peninsula Cup. Picture: Gary Sissons
Mitchell bullish, Pen Boxing take three-pronged attack By Ben Triandafillou SEVERAL top boxers from the Mornington Peninsula will be out to finish the year off with a bang when they line-up at the Melbourne Pavilion on Friday 14 December. WBC top-10 ranked fighter, Jayde Mitchell, headlines the card and will face the well-travelled Danish boxer, Kim Poulsen, in the main event. Mitchell will be looking to end his 2018 campaign with a regional title defence following his clear-cut victory over power-puncher Kerry Foley on Friday 7 September. While Mitchell understands that Poulsen is a highly experienced fighter with a record of 28 wins and four losses, he is still supremely confident heading into the night. “I watched footage of him, he’s a well-skilled fighter but I have to put a really good show on if I’m serious about going to bigger and better things,” he said. “He’s well-travelled and fought across the world. I’m expecting him to be in good shape, and even though he has come to fight, he won’t be getting the win.” Poulsen, who was fighting in the welterweight division just a couple of years ago, has returned in the supermiddleweight class in which Mitchell believes he has no right to be in. “I’m not looking past him, I’m looking through him,” he said. “He’s got no business being in my weight division. It’ll be a seek-anddestroy mission to finish the year off with a bang.” Mitchell has big plans ahead for next year and is hoping to end this campaign on a high. “Hopefully we can go from this to one of the biggest domestic fights in
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Mornington News
Pro puncher: Jason Whateley aims to make it two-from-two in the professional ranks. Out with a bang: Jayde Mitchell is supremely confident heading into his final fight for the season against Kim Poulsen. Pictures: Marty Camilleri
March next year against Zac Dunn,” he said. “It’s going to be an exciting year next year and the offers are really starting to come in now.” Also lining-up on the card is professional boxer, Kane Watts, who has been training alongside Mitchell and his father, Len Mitchell. Watts will be aiming to claim the WBA Oceania title and search for a spot in the top-15 world ratings. Peninsula Boxing will also have a few fighters on the undercard with the likes of Jason Whateley, Jai Alexander and Lochie Higgins all set to step into the ring. Whateley, who is coming off a professional debut victory, will be lining up for his second fight at the
6 November 2018
elite level. Peninsula Boxing head coach Marcos Amado believes that Whateley will most likely need to fight an opponent “above and beyond”, with competitors being so hard to find. “No one wants to be in the ring against him,” Amado said. “We’re not looking past this fight but it’s going to be the first belt and the first step towards bigger and better things.” Jai Alexander will likely have a similar problem when finding opponents, having had just the two fights for the year. “He’s also been very difficult to get a fight for but we’ll probably know a bit better with whom they’re up against in the last two to three weeks
before the night,” Amado said. Finally, Higgins will be going up a weight division into the super-middleweight class for the first time. Amado said they’ll be playing it slightly more cautious when coming up against some bigger and heavier hitters as they go from the 72kg to the 76kg of the super-middleweight class. This will be the fighters final hitout for the year and Amado said he
couldn’t be happier with their preparation heading into it. “Everyone’s put in a really solid camp,” he said. “After that we’ll probably have four weeks off and start getting back into things again in the second week of January.” Tickets for the night can be purchased through the boxers.