Saturday at Eagle Farm will provide an appetising start to the 2022 Stradbroke Season Carnival which will cover six high profile Saturday race-days at Eagle Farm and Doomben from April 30 to June 11.
Prize-money of more than $15 million will be there for the taking over the Stradbroke Season with the Increased prize-money allocation this year for the Doomben Cup and the Queensland Derby taking the number of Stradbroke Season races worth $1 million or more to seven.
Gun rider Kerrin McEvoy seldom comes away from a Queensland Winter Carnival with anything less than a highly successful result … he has won eleven Group 1’s in Queensland over the last decade, easily the highest Group 1 winning return in Queensland for any rider.
McEvoy was at the official Stradbroke Season launch this week and he offered these views on the upcoming Queensland racing bonanza.
“I am looking forward to getting up here in the Sunshine State, starting this weekend,” said McEvoy.
“It’s been quite monotonous down in Sydney the last couple of months. The heavy tracks have been hard work for everyone … especially the horses … so I’m looking forward to being up here on Saturday.
I’ve got a few horses coming up from Sydney over the carnival … horses who I’ve had success with and who have sort of built their profiles up over the last six or twelve months.
“A couple of those I am riding on the weekend. One of those is a horse called Bend The Knee … he runs in the Guineas. He is a nice young colt that has improved into his preparation. He is trained by John O’Shea, who I have been doing a bit of riding for lately.
“Peter and Paul Snowden have a few horses coming up. One of his horses I am looking forward to riding is a horse called Huetor. He is from France. He’s had one run back and he is going to be aimed at the Hollindale and the Doomben Cup.
“Obviously, we’ve got Zaaki to contend with there … but he is an exciting horse. He had had three wins in Australia already from four starts and he is one to keep an eye on when he steps out in the Hollindale.
“Queensland has been a very happy hunting ground for me, that’s for sure” continued McEvoy.
“One of my very early Group 1 wins was for Alan Bailey at Eagle Farm in 2001. I think it might have been my third Group 1 win. I’ll never forget that day.
“Since then, I’ve been able to travel up to Queensland and enjoy a lot of success when I was riding for Darley and Peter Snowden. In those years we had many good horses come up here and win some good races.
“I have been lucky enough to be able to get on the back of some fast horses and enjoy great success … The Autumn Sun … Redzel, just to name a couple.
“There have been plenty of stars to emerge from the Queensland Carnival … and I am sure there will again be some nice horses heading up to Queensland from down south, so the locals will have to be on their game, that’s for sure.
“A number of jockeys are coming up as well. The local guys and girls are hard to get past though. They don’t like us coming up here trying to steal all of the loot.
“It’s a great carnival.
“I get a nice, warm feeling when I walk into the back of Eagle Farm there. It is one of my favourite tracks in Australia.
“Like I said, I’m looking forward to it and I’m keen to see if I can to add to my tally.”
