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Winners continue to flow for local trainer

Neale HarveyKalgoorlie Miner
William Pike on Men’s Club wins the $25,000 Shire of Coolgardie Sprint (1300m) for trainer Peter Fernie at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club on Sunday.
Camera IconWilliam Pike on Men’s Club wins the $25,000 Shire of Coolgardie Sprint (1300m) for trainer Peter Fernie at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club on Sunday. Credit: Carwyn Monck/Kalgoorlie Miner

Perennial leading trainer Peter Fernie’s hiccup in the $100,000 Coolgardie Cup (1760m) was offset by five winners at Sunday’s Coolgardie Racing Club meeting.

Fernie’s cup chance Utgard Loki ($51) ran fifth, but only after he had saluted in four of the previous seven events.

The veteran horseman’s big day began in race one when champion jockey William Pike rode Set For Stardom ($2.80 favourite) to victory in the $25,000 Tom Cullen Memorial Maiden (1100m).

In race four over 1600m, Clinton Johnston-Porter rode Fernie-trained Mingora ($4 favourite) to a win, and Jade McNaught followed up in the next race with No Whispering ($11) over 1200m.

The Pike-Fernie duo struck again with the success of Men’s Club ($3.90 favourite) in the $25,000 Shire of Coolgardie Sprint (1300m).

Pike’s treble was completed with Crescent City’s stellar run in the Coolgardie Cup and Fernie ended his day on a winning note when Mail ($3.80) scored over 1400m with Johnston-Porter aboard.

Trainer Peter Fernie, Chris Halse, Shire of Coolgardie president Malcolm Cullen and Travis Cullen after William Pike on Men’s Club won the $25,000 Shire of Coolgardie Sprint (1300m) at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club on Sunday.
Camera IconTrainer Peter Fernie, Chris Halse, Shire of Coolgardie president Malcolm Cullen and Travis Cullen after William Pike on Men’s Club won the $25,000 Shire of Coolgardie Sprint (1300m) at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club on Sunday. Credit: Carwyn Monck/Kalgoorlie Miner

Fernie is cruising to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club’s leading trainer award after he headed into Sunday’s meeting with a lead of 25 winners over Pearce Racing.

He also leads the trainers’ strike rate standings, and Men’s Club holds the top spot in the horse of the year standings.

The KBRC’s next meeting is the Boulder Cup on September 24.

It will be followed by the Hannans Handicap on October 4 and the Kalgoorlie Cup on October 7.

Pike’s flair for the dramatic includes a long line of stellar rides at the annual Race Round, underpinned by a combined 10 winners at the 2016 and 2017 Hannans Handicap meetings.

His 2017 round was capped off with Shinta Mani’s triumph in the Kalgoorlie Cup that delivered trainer Sharon Miller a third win in the event.

It followed her success with Powerful Prince in 1996 when she became the first woman to win the Kalgoorlie Cup.

Proconteur gave the Lark Hill trainer her second cup in 1999.

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