Weighty Headache Ahead for Rowe After Image Roars Home

Cairns trainer Trevor Rowe will have to chart a careful path to the Cleveland Bay Hcp with Smart Image after his stunning win with a huge impost at Cluden Park yesterday.

The powerful sprinter defied a betting drift and huge weight disadvantage to down a smart field with a whopping 65.5kg in the Ladbrokes Same Race Multi Open Hcp (1000m).

Ridden by leading heavy weight hoop Ash Butler, Smart Image stormed home to win with 12kg more than runner-up Chilli Jam with Ocean Emperor third.

It was triumphant return to the north for Smart Image who was having his first run back in the north since a campaign in Brisbane which yielded a win at Eagle Farm and a placing in Doomben.

Rowe, who trains Smart Image with his son Peter, was delighted with the win but knows he now faces a weighty dilemma with the crack sprinter.

“I did think the 65.5kg might take its toll but he such a good horse,” Rowe said.

“I just said to Ash be positive out of the gates and once he gets his momentum up with the big weight to keep rolling. He gathered them up so quickly. If they’d gone further he would have won by further.

“The weight is a problem. We wouldn’t have brought him back so soon but I was given incorrect information by the handicappers but that’s a whole different story.

“He was asked to carry 65.5kg but what do I do with him next time.

“We just don’t have the quality handicaps and weight for age races up here and whilst he’s got a heart as big as Phar Lap he’s not a very big horse.

“If Brisbane wasn’t so far away I’d put him on a float and take him down and start there and bring him back again.

“I’ll speak to the owner and we’ll work out something for him.

“But he is without doubt the best sprinter I’ve trained. The Cleveland Bay Hcp is his ultimate aim and we’ll just have to work out a plan from here.”

Home Hill three-year-old Bringyaticket again showed he was one of the most improved horses in training and continued his successful union with jockey Ash Butler with another fast finishing win in the Gordon’s Pink 3YO Hcp (1200m).

Winning trainer Darby Amos, who rides all of his own work, plans to set the gelding for the Cape Cleveland during the carnival.

“He’s a later foal and I want him to race longer into his prep so I’m happy to space his runs,” Amos said.

“I think the Cape Cleveland is the way we’re going to go. I think we’ll aim at that and that way Ash can ride him and carry the weight. 60kg isn’t a problem for him.”

Bringyaticket, by Sebring Sun, was a bargain buy as a weanling for Amos and has now won six of his 12 starts with his trademark powerful finish.

Butler’s barnstorming win on Bringyaticket was the middle leg of a winning treble for the talented hoop.

He also won on Smart Image and took out the Hygain Cl3 Plate (1609m) on Vancouver Bay for Townsville trainer Steve Royes.

Justin Stanley landed a winning double with Acrobatic for trainer-jockey Chelsea Jokic and Beauty Boom for Lindsay Hatch.

Pictured: Smart Image storms home to a one-length despite carrying a whopping 65.5kg in the Ladbrokes Same Race Multi Open Hcp (1000m).

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