Our Red Morning (NZ) ridden by Beau Mertens wins the No Fuss Event Hire Plate at Mornington Racecourse on June 21, 2023 in Mornington, Australia. (Photo by Pat Scala/Racing Photos)
It may have been classified as a country meeting but the Greg Eurell stable will be looking to add to their city tally in coming weeks with their two winners at Mornington.
Our Red Morning overcame the disappointment of an Echuca defeat to land the No Fuss Event Hire Plate (1200m) before Proprietary took out the Catanachs Jewellers Handicap (1500m) on Wednesday.
Assistant trainer Jim Mason said the stable was still getting over the defeat of Our Red Morning at Echuca on June 1 when the filly was making her Australian debut.
“She ran an incredible ninth at Echuca,” Mason said.
“We were all feeling a bit dusty after that as from the time she walked into the stable and then her first jump-out, she showed above average ability.
“She has always shown really good ability and we were expecting her to do the job today.
“She’s only a three-year-old and she’s bred to get over a little bit of ground, so we’ll let her go through the grades and capitalise on the heavy tracks.”
Stablemate Proprietary is unbeaten in two starts at Mornington having scored at the track on debut back in December.
Mason said it was jockey Ben Melham who suggested Proprietary be ridden more quietly and allowed to finish his race off.
“He put the writing on the wall at Sale. It was quite a good run there with the blinkers on,” Mason said.
“We’ve always ridden the horse up on the speed, but Ben was pretty adamant that we ride him a little bit quieter and get him to the outside.
“It seemed to suit him, and he’s always been a horse that has shown quite a bit of ability.”
Mason said that as Our Red Morning and Proprietary both handle wet ground they may be able to head to a metropolitan midweek race in coming weeks.
“At this time of year if they show they can handle a wet track, they can pick up a race in town and moving forward they may find themselves going there,” Mason said.