Nottle impresses with back-to-back victories in Albany, Collins snags maiden win as thoroughbred trainer

Rising apprentice jockey Holly Nottle rode back-to-back winners at Thursday’s Albany Racing Club meeting for trainer Darren McAuliffe in a brilliant week for Kweda-raised youngster. Nottle spurred the McAuliffe-trained Reconnaissance to her first win of the day in the Celebrate Boxing Day At The ARC Handicap (1100m), with the three-year-old gelding saluting as the $2.10 favourite. Nottle found a good position on the rail and Reconnaissance kept pace with frontrunner King Cartel, before a late surge in the straight helped secure a one-length win. The Wheatbelt-raised apprentice then rode Cold Shizzle in race five over 1500m, another from McAuliffe’s stable. Gift of the Heart ($4.20) and Late Arrival ($2.30) went straight to the front, with Nottle and Cold Shizzle settling in third beside stablemate Changing Guard. Cold Shizzle, lumping 61kg, got his chance in the home straight, slipping up the inside as Gift of the Heart faded, with the McAuliffe runner battling Late Arrival all the way to the post, taking the win by a head in the closest contest of the day. The double was part of another big week for Nottle, riding seven winners in four days. Nottle booted home a double in Esperance on Friday, two more winners in Geraldton on Saturday, and then was successful aboard Run Pattie Run in Bunbury on Sunday. Late Arrival might have been edged out but it came after an early double victory for in-form local trainer Indianna Weinert. Bagger Prince broke his maiden status in the opening race of the day, the TABtouch Have You Got The Touch Maiden (1600m). With Austin Galati aboard, Bagger Prince ($8) led from start to finish, winning the early speed battle over Steve Wolfe-trained pair Menomonee Brave and Sea of Galilee and then beating the latter by 1.4 lengths on the line. Weinert followed it up with a win from El Foxie ($6.50) in the Western Racepix Maiden (1232m), the four-year-old gelding holding out stablemate Lady Coco ($2.20) to build on her stable’s golden early-season form. Trainer Brandon Fiore claimed the Wellington and Reeves Handicap (1900m) with Why Me ($5) as jockey Rosie Mahony followed Endless Joy’s move around the outside before they made the final turn, and out-sprinted the race favourite to win by a neck. Jemma Collins, a new face to the Albany thoroughbred training scene, celebrated her maiden win as a thoroughbred trainer in the Statewide Horse Transport Handicap (1600m) with Coatachino. Coatachino has proved the early success in Collins’ stable, placing at Narrogin in March and then again in Albany in May, before notching her first win on Thursday since coming back into Collins’ care from Ricky Moss’ outfit early in the year. The six-year-old mare muscled past Weinert’s Kamikaze Fighter and the Paul Roberts-trained Roundabout Glory to cross the line almost two lengths in front for apprentice Giaan O’Donnell. Trainer Mack Hall claimed the final win of the day with Bonny Rock, with the five-year-old mare making it back-to-back wins after a recent Narrogin triumph. Bonny Rock finished powerfully to beat Wolfe’s pair of gallopers Questioneverything and Gaspardo. Questioneverything’s rider Tash Faithfull copped a nine-day careless riding suspension for an incident in race seven for allowing her mount to shift inwards and cause interference with several runners past the finishing post.