Brad Clark enjoyed a win at Tumut’s annual Boxing Day meeting but it was tinged with sadness as the jockey dedicated his victory to the late Tricia Anderson.
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The Cootamundra trainer passed away on Christmas Eve after a long illness and Clark said he and his fellow riders wanted to pay tribute.
“We’re all wearing black armbands today in every race just in remembrance for her and to show our support for the family,” Clark said.
“We’ll always remember her. It’s been a pretty tough week.”
Clark and his family visited Anderson last week shortly before she was admitted to hospital. He said she won’t be forgotten.
“I’ve had a lot of rides for her and she’s been probably one of the most loyal trainers I’ve ever ridden for in the 20 years of my career,” Clark said.
“She was one of the ones who put me on in my first year and she was still putting me on this year.
“It’s nice to win a race in her memory. We love her.”
Clark’s win came as he renewed an association with Albury trainer Brett Cavanough, partnering Drunk On A Plane ($3.40f) to victory with 61 kilograms in the Tumut and Adelong Times BM 50 Handicap (1400m).
“That’s his grade of race and Bradley give him a good ride – the tight track suits him,” Cavanough said.
“With the spread of weights from 57 to 61 you could forget about thinking he had a big weight because it was only a four-kilo spread which suited him.”
Clark sat the four-year old on the heels of the leaders and produced him at the right time for the gelding’s third win in 25 starts.
“He was travelling that well at the point of the turn I didn’t really have to give him a squeeze but I did just to make sure of it,” he said.
Drunk On A Plane won by two lengths from Trevor Sutherland’s Benno’s Boy and Fire the Musket (Melissa Harrison).
Adding to a day of tributes at Tumut, Gundagai trainer Tony Barton couldn’t have been happier with Hippeia after his galloper claimed a race named in honour of a departing Gundagai bookmaker, the Goodbye & Good Luck Bruce McCarthy Maiden Plate (1000m).
“It was very special, I can tell you, because I’ve enjoyed a friendship with Bruce for, I suppose, all our lives really,” Barton said.
Apprentice Stacey Metcalfe steered Hippeia ($4) to victory.
Barton said his offsider Emily Hulm deserves plenty of credit while his own family history only added to a memorable Boxing Day.
“As a matter of fact I was only reading an article about my great-grandfather (William Barton) last night,” he said.
“He used to race horses at Tumut. And I’m talking about 1890.”
