SUMO FISH, partnered by apprentice Shae Wilkes, landed her Taree-based trainer and Dad, Wayne Wilkes, his second runner in the Racing NSW Country Championship Final, following their win in the $150,000 Mid North Coast Racing Association Evergreen Country Championship Qualifier at Port Macquarie last Sunday.

Storming down the middle of the track, Sumo Fish defeated another fast finisher – the Joe Burgess (Tuncurry) trained 80-to-one outsider McKeon, ridden by Siena Grima – by a neck.

The Mid North Coast Racing Association qualifying race kicked off the first of 10 qualifying races to be conducted in the State’s different racing regions, the $1 million Final being among feature events on the first day of the prestigious The Championships at Randwick on Saturday, 5 April.

The first two placings now reserve their place in the Final Field.

Wauchope conditioner Colt Prosser filled the third and fourth positions with Bjorn Ironside (by Real Impact) and Super Impressive (Smart Missile) respectively.

Sumo Fish provided an emotional win for Wilkes.

“A perfect ride today; she (Shae) got back with a lot of speed up front, but didn’t panic and was patient, got him to the outside and he really hit the line,” trainer Wilkes said after the race.

“I am so proud of her, as a father, a boss and everything.”

Lucciola Belle gave Wilkes his first runner in the Country Championship Final and finished second to Noble Boy in 2019.

The previous year saw Victorem take the Final, and which gave the region its only Country Championship Final win when conditioned at Port Macquarie by Jenny Graham.

The retired I Am Invincible gelding, Victorem, was also trackside and provided another afternoon highlight for the large Port Macquarie crowd when leading the race’s capacity field onto the track for the main event.

Bred and raced by Sydney enthusiast Adam Ruttley, Sumo Fish is also a triumph for local breeders, the five-year-old being a son of prolific winner-getting sire Sebring Sun, which stands at Mr Ruttley’s brother, Craig Ruttley’s property, Glenthorne Park at Glenthorne near Taree.

Sumo Fish was also the first Sebring Sun foal born at Glenthorne Park, being produced from Not A Single Doubt mare Lily Bear, which was bred and raced to win four races (when trained by Colt Prosser) by the Ruttley family.

Local trainers Cassandra Schmidt and Neil Godbolt also featured with winners at the Port Macquarie meeting. Apprentice Madeline Owen partnered Godbolt’s October Revolution (by Russian Revolution) to win the Showcase Benchmark 74 Handicap, while Schmidt’s Last Typhoon mare Typhoon Neta took the last Country Boosted Benchmark 58 at big odds.

By Virginia HARVEY