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Kelly in two minds with Reiby The Red

12 March 2019

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By Glenn Davis

Trainer Les Kelly will confer with connections of widely travelled Reiby The Red to help solve a dilemma whether to start at Ipswich on Wednesday.

Apprentice Michael Murphy is booked to ride Reiby The Red in the Class Four Handicap (1666m).

However, the seven-year-old also has been nominated for the Gold Coast Stakes (1800m) on Saturday leaving Kelly and his owners with a difficult decision where he’ll start next.

Reiby The Red is part-owned by Bill Mumford who raced former star sprinter Consular.

Consular earned more than $1million in prizemoney during his 85-start career which yielded 16 wins and 14 placings, mostly for Eagle Farm trainer Bill Baker.

Although Consular failed to win at elite level, one of his best performances was when he went down in a photo decision to Thorn Park in the G1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm in 2004.

Reiby The Red has won only of four of his 45 starts including a last start win in Class Three grade at Doomben on March 2.

He started his career with NSW trainer Jason Attard before having four starts for Baker at Eagle Farm and then transferring to Kelly last year.

Under Kelly’s guidance Reiby The Red has started three times for a win and two placings.

“I’m not certain if he’ll start at Ipswich or the Gold Coast and I’ll need to talk to Bill (Mumford) first,” Kelly said.

Like Consular, Mumford paid only $20,000 for Reiby The Red at an online auction.

“He’s the first horse I’ve trained for Bill and his other owners and he should be competitive again if he starts at Ipswich,” Kelly said.

“He might be a seven-year-old but I think he could be a country Cups horse.

“It was a strong win at Doomben and he’ll be better suited over more ground.

“When he first came to me, he had a lot of feet problems but we’ve worked around the clock on them and they seem to have come good.”

Kelly also has Sir Magic entered for the Class Five Handicap (1200m) and also expects him to be hard to beat.

Sir Magic, a last start placegetter at the Gold Coast, has been plagued by bad barriers and will again jump from the outside gate, in barrier 11.

“He’s going well but he's had no luck with barriers,” Kelly said.

“He’s the type of horse that finds some bad luck in his races but he should be competitive again.”

Racing Queensland webnews   March 12