4 August 2017
PAUL MICALLEF
A KEEN eye for a bargain has young Eugowra hobby trainer Grant Jones poised to land a winning double at Parkes on Sunday.
The 26-year-old is confident his smart mare Arcachon (race nine) and new recruit Fianna Gael (race seven) will be very hard to beat in their respective races.
He purchased both of them out of the Trading Ring, an advertising horse sale page on the Harness Racing Website, for what he describes as a bit of a nibble.
“They weren’t expensive. Arcachon was purchased from Brisbane and Fianna Gael from Victoria,” Jones said.
They are the only two pacers Jones trains and any win would be a great tonic for the soon to be married man in September.
“My fiancé Kayla Peters and I raced Fianna Gael and we also share in the ownership or Arcachon with good friends Daniel Ball and Shirilee Jackson,” Jones said.
“Arcachon has been a handy little girl. We’ve certainly had a lot of fun. We’ve had her for a year and she’s won four races all at Country Cup meetings.
“I was rapped with her first-up run at Bathurst last Sunday and she’ll definitely improve from that.”
Jones was referring to Arcachon‘s excellent 8m fourth to Gracie Taljuice in the Group 3 Breeders Challenge Final for four-year-old mares at Bathurst last Sunday.
Drawn closer in on Sunday, Jones expects the mare to fire out and search for the lead.
“She would have enough speed to lead but we will leave that up to Maty (driver Mat Rue),” Jones said.
“She’ll be looking for a position up front somewhere and be fairly hard to beat.”
Fianna Gael hasn’t been long in Jones’ care and the five-year-old mare caught the eye at her first run for the stable.
She flew out to lead before handing up and finishing 11m fifth to Our Emancipation in much stronger company at Bathurst on July 26.
“That was over 2260m and this 1660m distance will be a big help,” he said.
“She is better in front and I expect her to lead from barrier one today and take a bit of running down.”
Jones has only been training full time for two years but was born and raised around horses courtesy of his father Pat, who has had plenty of success with Burra Sullivan.
“I’ve been poking around the stables helping dad for years and years,” Jones said.
“I train between two and three outside my job with GrainCorp which is a storage and logistics company in Forbes, 40 km from Eugowra,” he added.