RIDERS Skye Bogenhuber and Hannah English will have a little inside knowledge of some rivals in the $30,000 Cannonball Final (800m) at Kilcoy on November 30.
English rides the Emerald flyer Boot Shaker for trainer Ray Williams, retaining the mount after teaming with the gelding when he resumed from a post-summer break on November 21.
Carrying the steadier of 59.5kgs, the 10-year-old ran second to Cannonball favourite Godfather's Girl (Lani Fancourt), beaten a bit under three lengths.
English has also been a regular race rider for Nanango sprinter Eight Over. They were Gayndah winners on October 12 before finishing third in a race in Toowoomba on November 2 and then fourth at Roma on November 16.
As well, English's life partner Glenn Richardson trains Eight Over, to be ridden on this occasion by Billie-Rose Andrew.
Bogenhuber will take the reins from Sally Sweeney on the Pat Duff-trained Si Si Sequalo, a close second under these conditions on November 1 before running fifth at Gatton to Godfather's Girl.
Bogenhuber was the winning rider of Cambooya Rock in the Cannonball qualifier on November 9 in Toowoomba. But senior hoop Gary Geran will be on Cambooya Rock for Downs trainer John Ferguson.
Chinchilla trainer Andrew Donnelly has retained Zoe White to ride Bagger Chance and Sophie Wilock has been engaged for the mount on Yeppoon visitor Ararrac.
Beau-Dene Appo is on the George Sitek-trained Sayonaramosa and Cecily Eaton has a booking for Sunshine Coast galloper Leica Firecracker.
Fancourt and Godfather's Girl will be chasing their fourth win together. Jim Byrne is the only other jockey to land a win with Godfather's Girl, which chased hard before clearing out for a smart win at Gatton.
The $30,000 stake will be won in super quick time. When Flame Of Liberty won a Cannonball qualifier on November 1, he covered the Kilcoy 800m in less than 45 seconds.
At that rate, the winner of the final (racing for a victor's paycheque of $16,800) could earn $373/second.
The TAB and wagering operators Sportsbet, BetEasy and Ladbrokes have added their financial muscle to Racing Queensland's 1 For The Bush promotion.
Under the novel promotion RQ has promised to donate $1000 to the Queensland Country Women's Association's Public Rural Crisis Fund each time a thoroughbred, standardbred or greyhound carrying saddlecloth number 1 wins on November 30 or December 1.
The betting agencies have pledged to match the RQ offer, pushing the commitment to $5000 for each win.
There will be more than 120 races run across the three codes next weekend, meaning a massive windfall for the QCWA if their numbers come up.
Alan Welburn
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
