TRACK conditions were described as being the "best ever" by jockeys and stewards alike at the 160th Merton Picnic Races held on New Year's Day under sunny skies. According to organisers crowd numbers were up on last year and the betting ring looked busy with punters following local and metropolitan races. Fields for the six races listed attracted mostly solid entries with horses coming from near and far. For jockey Shaun Cooper his new year was off to a flying start with three first finishes including the Nutrien Ag Solutions Merton Cup riding All Too Creedy. The seven-year-old bay gelding was trained by Seymour trainer Don Dwyer, and it was his second tilt at the coveted cup race after finishing second last year. Cooper described the track as magnificent and congratulated the Merton Amateur Turf Club committee on always doing a great job. Another regular rider at Merton each year is Grant Seccombe who rode Chanting Rhythm for a win in the Oakdale Meat Co Trophy Race. Once again, the Merton Race Club's annual meeting was testament to the attraction of country racing for so many. Merton Races New Year's Day meeting results: FINISH NUMBER TRAINER JOCKEY BARRIER WEIGHT Race 1 - 1:30PM Lister Family Maiden Plate (1150 METRES) FINISH NO. HORSE TRAINER JOCKEY BARRIER WEIGHT 1 3 PERSUASIVE STAR Geoff Brunsdon Shaun Cooper 4 67kg 2 1 JIMMY CAN TANGO Gordon Strang Tracey Johnson 1 67kg 3 5 DJAWARA (NZ) Tyson Barton Grant Seccombe 3 65kg Race 2 - 2:10PM Oakdale Meat Co Trophy Race (2) (1150 METRES) 1 6 CHANTING RHYTHM Paul Kramer Grant Seccombe 1 63kg 2 1 LUNAR LANDING Grant White Rob Kirkpatrick 4 72kg 3 7 OUR DAWNY Dani Walker Sophie Clayfield 3 63kg Race 3 - 2:50PM Bet365 Trophy Race (1150 METRES) 1 7 DUSTIN DHAHRAN Dani Walker Leigh Taylor 3 65kg 2 6 CALYPSO RICH Grant White Rob Kirkpatrick 4 65.5kg 3 5 SPACE COWBOY Gary Cluning Melinda McDonald 2 66.5kg Race 4 - 3:30PM Leneva Park Maiden Plate (1600 METRES) 1 4 ENOUGH WAR Geoff Brunsdon Shaun Cooper 5 65kg 2 1 BULLETPROOF Erin Maher Jack Virgona 3 67kg 3 6 SPEEDY SPOOKS Jeffrey Kyne Adam Roustoby 2 65kg (cd 62kg) Race 5 - 4:10PM Nutrien Ag Solutions Merton Cup (1900 METRES) 1 4 ALL TOO CREEDY Don Dwyer Shaun Cooper 2 65.5kg 2 6 RETROSPECTION Jason Bridgman Jack Virgona 3 64.5kg 3 2 COULDBEFAMOUS Gordon Strang Tracey Johnson 4 68.5kg Race 6 - 4:50PM TAC ''If Everybody Gets Home Safely We All Win" Trophy Race (2) (1600 METRES) 1 1 STAR OF MATTNER Tyson Barton Tyson Barton 2 70kg 2 3 SMART ACE Don Dwyer Shaun Cooper 4 63.5kg 3 2 SOME ECLIPSE Ron Hockley Tracey Johnson 1 64.5kg Results sourced from Racing Australia website.
