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Coral Coast Shield moves to Mackay

12 November 2020

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The Coral Coast Shield leaderboard is starting to take shape at the halfway mark of the inaugural series.

With two rounds in the books, Rockhampton holds a slender lead over Far North Queensland rivals Cairns, after each city dominated their hometown meets to kick away on the leaderboard.

Rockhampton – who hosted the first round of the series – asserted themselves early, scoring near maximum points across their three qualifiers.

Shane Sigvart’s classy mare Chezblack set the tone in the opening event of the Shield, coming from near-last in the straight to storm past the field and steal the barest of wins.

The former Victorian galloper extended her winning streak to three on the trot – all at Rockhampton – and made it a sixth win from 11 starts since making the move north.

The Adrian Coome-trained Buffy made it a double for Rocky, claiming a somewhat comfortable half-length win over fellow Rockhampton runner Angola Miss for John Wigginton.

Last start, it was the Cairns trainers who stepped up to the plate, taking full advantage at their local Innisfail Turf Club meeting.

Across the three qualifiers, Cairns posted two wins, two second placings and two thirds, totalling in 22 points for the meeting.

Townsville’s $18 outsider Sizzling Sun, trained by Rick Nelson, momentarily spoiled the party by claiming the first qualifier, with both minor placings going the way of Cairns.

It was smooth sailing from there for the host city, taking maximum points in the second qualifier thanks to the Janel Ryan-trained Tambo’s Heart, with Stephen Potiris’ Rocco and Trevor Rowe’s Salesman fighting out the minors.

Leanne Ashford capped off the dream day for Cairns, with her seven-year-old mare Hidden In Heaven leading start to finish to claim the final qualifier thanks to a dream ride from jockey Graham Kliese.

The series will now head south, with three heats at the Mackay Turf Club on Saturday, and the Sugar City will be hoping the trend of home ground dominance continues.

Among those saddling up local hopes will be Wayne Pomfrett, a former policeman turned trainer, who appears to have struck paydirt after recently acquiring Moreno from Chris Waller.

Since arriving in Mackay, the four-year-old gelding has claimed three wins and a second from just four starts, winning over 1100m before stepping up to six furlongs most recently.

While the Coral Coast Shield Open Handicap will be run over 1050m on Saturday, Pomfrett said he was looking forward to the challenge of the series.

“He likes to go hard, so we don’t stop that,” Pomfrett said.

“I want him to do what he wants to do and we will work it out from there.

“That form in Sydney was good enough to win here (recently).”

Following Saturday’s meeting in Mackay, the series moves to Townsville for the final heats before the Final is also staged at Cluden Park on November 28.

Click here for full details on the Coral Coast Shield.