Queanbeyan trainer Mike Petrovic will aim to honour his old mate Steve Conroy in Sunday's Defence Force Cup (1460m) with in-form five-year-old Onsettling Down.
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Conroy, a long time supporter of racing at Queanbeyan, will be honoured at the club's flagship autumn meeting following his passing in late 2019 aged 68.
Race three has been named the Steve Conroy Memorial Maiden Handicap (1460m), which Petrovic will aim to win with Le May, while Conroy's wife Deb will be a guest of the club throughout the afternoon.
"When they [Racing NSW] wanted to shut the place down and sent us a letter on the Friday saying it was going to be just a training establishment, I rang him and said look we can't have that, what are we going to do," Petrovic said.
"He took it on himself to write to Racing NSW, he was a pretty intelligent man. He saved the club from being shut down, [fellow trainer] Mick Smith might have had something to do with it too."
Conroy had a share in most of Petrovic's star horses including Kingston Shores and Rum Rustic which won a rich race on the Gold Coast.
"We'd won by about a long neck and, he [second place] came back and protested," Petrovic said.
"Steve was looking at it and said now we're stuffed. First prize is 200 [thousand] and something, second prize is only about 70. I said this is going to be the biggest losing bet I ever make if I lose this.
"We won the protest anyway."
Petrovic will saddle up a third runner on Sunday, with first starter Lepo going around in the final race on the card.
Lepo is a half sister to Onsettling Down and Le May, meaning all three Petrovic's runners are out of the same mare in Kariz.
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Meanwhile Canberra trainer Keith Dryden took a share of the Highway Handicap (1500m) prize when Perfect Pitch finished third.
Matthew Dale's Key finished sixth in the Listed Denise's Joy Stakes (1100m).
North of the border, heavily back tiring favourite Eduardo held off a wall of challengers to claim the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m) in Brisbane.
Jockey Nash Rawiller took the Joseph Pride seven-year-old to the front as expected, and extracted enough in the dying stages to fend off unfancied duo Wild Planet and The Harrovian.
Local galloper Criminal Defence caused a major boilover earlier in the day when winning the Rough Habit Plate (2000m) at 100-1.
Over in Adelaide, Savatoxl sprung a huge upset to notch a big win in the Group 1 Goodwood (1200m).
"It's a bit surreal," trainer Tony McEvoy said.
"The ownership group had enough faith in him to send him down, he won a Guineas in Darwin, he ran great in the Darwin Cup.
"He didn't have the pace to lead, [jockey] Barend [Vorster] was beautiful, he showed all of his experience."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
