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Dale Smith gets another boost to Qld riding career

1 September 2018

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By Glenn Davis

Former Victorian Dale Smith got a further boost to his new riding career in Queensland with a double at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

Smith continued his association with Toowoomba stayer Fighting Teo who claimed successive wins in the Reed Racing Benchmark 75 Handicap (2400m) before talking out the Bloomhill Cancer Care Open Handicap (1200m) aboard Tversky.

Smith rode for 21 years in Victoria, 15 of which were extensively for trainer Mick Price, before relocating to try his luck in Brisbane.

He has ridden over 600 winners in the past decade, finishing in the top 10 of the Victorian jockeys’ premiership in every one of those years.

Smith made it three wins in a row on Tversky who wore down his opposition to beat Fiery Heights by a long neck with My Girl Hayley third, a further three-quarters of a length away.

Trainer Jack Duncan is unsure of Tversky’s immediate future and will weigh up the Magic Millions carnival at the Gold Coast in January as a possible target.

“I got him for $20,000 at the Magic Millions March sales and he could go there,” Duncan said.

“But he’s a big striding horse who likes a big track like Caloundra so I’m not sure if the Gold Coast would suit him.”

Duncan also hasn’t ruled out an interstate trip with the five-year-old son of Written Tycoon.

“He’s won all three races this time up on hard tracks and he’s even better with the give out of the ground,” he said.

“I’m not sure what’s available in the south but I wouldn’t be afraid to take him away.”

Meanwhile Toowoomba stayer Fighting Teo made it back-to-back wins following his Gold Coast triumph two weeks ago with another strong performance for his fourth win in 12 starts.

Fighting Teo showed he had a bright future over ground with a dominant performance in his 2-1/4 length win over Sir Barnabus.

Trainer Kevin Kemp saddled up stablemate Tedder Avenue to win at the Gold Coast and only heard the race on radio.

“I listened to the race on radio so I’ll have a look at the replay before deciding what we’ll do next with him,” Kemp said.

“He was going to spell after his last run so he’s got to be coming to the end of his campaign soon.

“He’s done a great job coming from a Class 1 horse to win a Benchmark 75.

“If we look after him now he’ll look after us later.”

Kemp sent Fighting Teo to Sydney for a Benchmark race at Rosehill in July and the four-year-old almost caused a boilover when runner-up to the Chris Waller-trained Huangshan.

Racing Queensland webnews  Sept 1