Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Bathurst trainer Dean Mirfin will be relying on the speed Jolly Good Fellow has shown since joining his stable to give him his best chance of snaring Saturday’s TAB Highway (1200m) at Gosford.

Trainer Dean Mirfin (Pic: Bradley Photos)

The former Chris Waller trained gelding has had the necessary three starts for Mirfin to be eligible for the Highway and he’s already shown an ability to take a leap in grade by following his maiden win with victory in the Class 4 Soldier’s Saddle on his home track on Anzac Day.

The three-year-old has led all the way in both his wins and Mirfin won’t be changing too much in his bid for Highway success.

“We’ve drawn a tricky gate but he’s hit the ground running in his last couple of starts, particularly the other day he flew the gates,’’ Mirfin said.

“We’ll be relying on him doing something like that again, hopefully he can roll across and get into a good prominent position.

“He’s a nice young progressive horse and he’s earned the right to be in a race like this so we’ll give it a shot.”

Jolly Good Fellow had six starts for Waller with his best performance a second behind Brigidine Gal at Warwick Farm last November.

It didn’t take long for Mirfin to discover he’d be well placed in the Central West and given he’s already a winner at 1400m he feels he could be an ideal Country Championships prospect for next year.

“He came with very good credentials, it’s not like we’ve reinvented the wheel with him,’’ he said.

“We’re racing him in country racing and he’s thriving. He’s enjoying his lifestyle here and we’re having a bit of fun with him.

“He’s the type of horse you’d like to have up and going when (Country Championships) time comes around. He’s a horse with the ability to have a look at that.”

Donovan Dillon will ride Jolly Good Fellow at Gosford and as much as Mirfin would prefer to have drawn a little further inside than 13 he said if he gets the first part of the race right it won’t diminish his chances of winning.

“It all comes down to the first 50m, if they’re a horse that takes a while to muster and everything underneath does the same thing before you know it they are caught wide,’’ he said.

“We’ll be relying on him hitting the ground running and getting across.

“Sometimes you look on paper and you think (there’s not a lot of speed) but all of a sudden there’s two or three horses vying for the lead. At a quick glance he should be able to get across and we’ll see what happens.

“We’ve got faith he’s a versatile type of horse. With the speed he’s shown in his past two starts this is a race I’m happy to put him in.”

Meanwhile, Mirfin will take two-year-old surprise packet Tom Vegas to Sunday’s Silver Goblet Preview (1100m) at Mudgee hoping he can back up his impressive debut win.

The youngster was sent out $51 in the Gold Nugget at Bathurst and overcame plenty of adversity, largely his own doing, to post a runaway win.

“Keagan Latham came back after he trialled and said he’s a nice horse, we just didn’t think he was switched on enough to win a two-year-old race,’’ Mirfin said.

Jolly Good Fellow wins at Bathurst on April 25

“He’s an enormous two-year-old, he’s huge, and he surprised us a bit.

“He was beautifully ridden, he missed the start and was two or three behind the second last horse but he pushed up on the inside and before you knew it he was right in the race.

“He got the rails run and it all worked out well for him to win.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Gosford meeting