Seeing a trainer saddle a race trifecta is not that unusual … think Waller, think Gollan … but the feat of Sharryn Livingstone in achieving that distinction at the Sunshine Coast was another story altogether, almost bordering on the extraordinary.
That was because not many trainers, if any at all, would have done that at provincial level, as Livingstone did, with only five horses in work. To get three of those horses to line up in the same race and for them all to compete on such a competitive level and land the best possible result for the stable is to the credit of the Deagon based trainer whose absolute love for her horses is always clear to see at the track … win, lose or draw.
As it turned out Livingstone won the race with Chakra Boy, the longest priced of her three runners at $10. That price was framed more with regard to the steadying burden of 60kg that Chakra Boy had to carry, rather than any question mark about his ability.
Thelwell, who came into the race off a last start win at the Gold Coast, in which be beat Chakra Boy into second place, was the shortest price of the Livingstone trio … and the race’s second favourite at $3.90 … while Click Click Boom was also in the betting mix at $4.80.
In the race itself, the $3.10 favourite Wondereach scorched into the early lead, but Cejay Graham just as quickly put Chakra Boy in second place, taking a perfect trail just a length-and-a-half off the leader. At the stage Click Click Boom raced in the second half of the field with Thelwell bringing up the rear.
Wondereach had no answer to Chakra Boy when Graham roused up the son of Kobayashi with 250m left to run, and Chakra Boy then stretched out, opening up a two length advantage at the head of affairs.
At the same time that Chakra Boy had gone past Wondereach, Montana Philpott was starting to unwind a run of her own on Livingstone’s old warhorse Thelwell, who raced into strong contention inside the final 100m … and kept coming … but, in the end, Graham had judged the ride on Chakra Boy perfectly and she got the winner home by 0,28 lengths.
With Click Click Boom and Georgina Cartwright doing enough in the final strides to edge into third place … the trifecta belonged to an ecstatic Livingstone, as a memorable day in her training career was etched into the record books.
Highlighting just what a good job Livingstone is doing with her small string …Chakra Boy is an eight-time winner with nine minor placings from twenty-eight starts and $346 750 banked in prize-money … Thelwell is a five-time winner with fifteen minor placings from forty-eight starts and with $355 156 earned in prize-money … and Click Click Boom is a five-time winner with seven minor places from twenty-one starts with a prize-money haul of $156 210.
