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Birthday boy Wayne Nugent hopes to dine out on crab in Qld Provincial Series opener

2 November 2018

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By Glenn Davis

Toowoomba trainer Wayne Nugent is hoping for a belated birthday celebration by collecting maximum points with Crab Boy in the opening heat of the Summer Provincial Series which kicks off at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.

Nugent, who turned 53 on Friday, is a farrier by trade but has a small stable in work at Toowoomba.

He bought Crab Boy on behalf of clients for $100,000 at the Ready To Run sales in New Zealand in 2015 and the five-year-old has returned more than half his outlay.

Crab Boy has won two of his last four starts and will be ridden by Toowoomba’s Ron Goltz in the Summer Provincial Series Benchmark 75 Handicap (1200m).

“He should race well but he’s been up a long time,” Nugent said.

“If he can win this and pick up the maximum 10 points that should qualify him for the final.

“If he can do that I’d like to give him a short break before he comes back for the final.”

Racing Queensland’s Summer Provincial Series comprises six $20,000 heats commencing with the Sunday’s Sunshine Coast meeting.

Other venues are Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Ipswich and Dalby before a $100,000 final at Doomben on December 29.

Crab Boy was a betting drifter at his latest appearance when second to We Built This City in a Class Four over 1350 metres at Doomben on October 5.

He previously edged out the Stephen Lee-trained Soft Top in a Class Four over 1200 metres at Ipswich in September.

“Although he was beaten last start it was a good run,” Nugent said.

“We used a butterfly bit on him and he just over raced a bit and wouldn’t settle.

“It’s a month between runs but he doesn’t like the wet so we had to scratch him a couple of times lately.”

Crab Boy is a son of Foxwedge out of the well performed broodmare Dynamic Love.

Dynamic Love was trained early in her career by the Gold Coast’s John Wallace.

She won seven of her 31 starts including the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes and Group 3 Sweet Embrace Stakes as a two-year-old in Sydney and collected more than $755,000 in prizemoney.

Racing Queensland webnews  November 2