French-born Nacim Dilmi trained his first Newcastle winner when former top local apprentice Dylan Gibbons produced a masterly ride on Oceanfront at the NJC’s midweek meeting. Oceanfront was a $5 chance in the provincial benchmark 64 handicap (1850 metres) after a close third placing in his previous run at Wyong on August 31. The horse wasn’t comfortable on the tight Central Coast track, and Dilmi subsequently gave him a soft Newcastle barrier trial on September 24 to prepare him for Thursday’s race.
Oceanfront was slow away and settled third last in the field of 12 before Gibbons started to improve his position around the 500m mark. The gelding sprinted quickly in the straight to run down emergency Cassie’s Lad and eventually won by a little over two lengths. It was the winner’s ninth start for two wins and two placings.
The gelding is raced by a big player in Australian racing – Domeland Pty Ltd – and Dilmi only commenced his training career at the stable on August 1 this year. The Frenchman has had 22 starters since for four winners, including the Bathurst Cup with Aix En Provence on September 14. “The intention was to ride this horse forward but he blew the start so we got a long way back. He produced a long searching run from before the turn,” Gibbons said.
Dilmi joined Domelastart,ter eight years working alongside James Cummings at the global racing giant Godolphin where he held numerous senior roles as part of their private training operation in Australia. He started his career as a jockey before moving to Australia in 2009, honing his craft under the likes of hall of fame legends Bart Cummings and Gai Waterhouse.
There were hysterical scenes in the mounting yard when Newcastle-trained $51 chance Beau Bandit won a benchmark 64 handicap (1200m). Former Newcastle jockey Tanya Randell prepares Beau Bandit which was given a gun ride by former Kris Lees apprentice Louise Day, a close friend of the trainer. Randell was screaming with joy when Sky Racing presenter Gavin Carmody caught up with her in the mounting yard for an interview after the race. He had to hesitate a number of times just to calm her down for the interview.
Randall’s partner Mal Ollerton was the horse’s strapper on the day, and he is one of Lees’ long-time foreman. Ollerton rides Beau Bandit, now with two wins and a second from four starts, in his trackwork.
The heavily-backed Lees mare Eclair Encore, aged four and bred in Japan, provided Gibbons with a double for the day when winning the final event. She raced back in the field of the benchmark 68 handicap (1300m), but when Gibbons gave her full rein in the straight, she raced to the lead and held off another Novocastrian Sonofdec by a quarter of a length.
Reagan Bayliss was the only other jockey to ride a double. The Randwick-based Bayliss won on the Bjorn Baker-trained Hayek and Waterhouse-Bott prepared Champagne Hero.
Newcastle will host another midweek program on Tuesday.
photo credit: Peter Lorimer