Grant Young’s warhorse Tunes has proven that there is plenty of life left in the old boy as a win in the final race of the Over the Rainbow Jumps Series saw him claim the title ahead of Barry Brook’s Searaven.
118 start veteran Tunes is putting a serious jumps CV together with three of his fourteen career wins coming over the hurdles and his win in the Over the Rainbow Series proves that the ten-year-old could be set for a few more wins before he calls time on his career.
Tunes was a model of consistency across the Series, racing on six of the possible eight racedays and notched up two wins and two second-placings in six runs. The jumper has obvious talent over the hurdles and after Young’s win in last year’s Great Eastern Steeplechase with Spying on You, you’d think that Tunes could be a force to be reckoned with at Oakbank or Warrnambool in 2019.
Barry Brook’s Searaven also had a fantastic Series with one win and four placings from his six starts but the jumper was scratched ahead of Saturday’s Irish Day which gave Tunes the opportunity to claim the title.
Brook’s successful Series saw him finish the Trainer’s Standings in second place behind prominent jumps trainer Eric Musgrove. Musgrove always brings a huge team of horses to South Australia across the jumps season and the Victorian had an unassailable lead heading into Irish Day. Musgrove had four winners across the Series with Mystic Prince saluting twice along with Pentomatic and Urban Explorer.
Jockey Martin Kelly absolutely dominated the Series with four wins and a second placing from six rides and he unfortunately missed Irish Day (due to injury) but had an insurmountable lead heading into the final day. Richard Cully and Shane Jackson both finished the Series strongly with wins on Irish Day and ended up finishing in the Top 3 after riding well across the whole series.
With the Series now wrapped up the connections of Tunes will take home a bonus of $1,000 while Eric Musgrove takes home a trainers bonus of $1,500 and Martin Kelly collects $500 for his good Series.
Over the Rainbow Series results
Horse
Position |
Horse |
Points |
1st |
Tunes |
42 |
2nd |
Searaven |
35 |
3rd |
Sir Lopez |
29 |
3rd |
Urban Explorer |
29 |
5th |
Mystic Prince |
22 |
Trainer
Position |
Horse |
Points |
1st |
Eric Musgrove |
97 |
2nd |
Barry Brook |
48 |
3rd |
Grant Young |
42 |
4th |
Patrick Payne |
33 |
5th |
Jarrod McLean |
14 |
Jockey
Position |
Horse |
Points |
1st |
Martin Kelly |
46 |
2nd |
Richard Cully |
31 |
3rd |
Shane Jackson |
30 |
3rd |
Lee Horner |
26 |
Equal 5th |
Braidon Small & Steven Pateman |
16 |
Photography: Greg Irvine.