THE night meeting at the UBET Racing Centre in Launceston on Wednesday night produced a few highlights and none more prevalent than wins by two exciting three-year-olds.
Much had been spruiked about the team Wells-trained colt Geegees Gran Lodge after his impressive maiden win in Hobart two weeks ago and he confirmed his status as a genuine Tasmanian Derby prospect with another impressive win, this time in a maiden-class 1 over 1620m.
But another to impress was the Adam Trinder-trained Jerilderie Letter that kept his unbeaten record intact from two starts with an impressive effort to win a strong class one handicap over 1220m.
After winning on debut at Spreyton, coming from last on the turn to win convincingly, the gelding defied a tough run on Wednesday night, sitting no better than three-wide throughout, to go on and score by a length.
Jerilderie Letter is a half brother to California Wish, a talented filly trainer by Trinder that won six of her 15 starts including a Magic Millions Classic.
“California Wish was really highly strung and got herself beaten in races because of her bad mannerisms but this horse is way more laid back and so much so he does absolutely nothing on the training track to warrant having an opinion of him,” Trinder said.
“After he’d been broken in and I rode him in trackwork I really started to think that I had erred in buying him because he delivered nothing on the training track.”
“But his ability really shines through on race days,” he said.
Jerilderie Letter (Bushranger-Pirate’s Sirene) is so named after a letter scribed by Australia’s legendary bushranger Ned Kelly to justify him killing three police officers in the 1870s with the irony being two of Jerilderie Letter’s owners are prominent members of the legal profession.
Trinder says he will map out a program for the gelding that will most likely culminate in the $100,000 Tasmanian Guineas over 1600 metres in Hobart in early January.