Sport
15 July, 2025
Newcomer impresses at Mount Isa TAB meeting
A bargain buy picked up a big cheque for his new trainer at Buchanan Park.
Patience and persistence paid off for Mount Isa trainer Emma Morton and her partner Justin Bawden after Zavaboom was an impressive winner in his North West debut on Monday.
The bargain buy, who was previously trained out of New South Wales by Ed O’Rourke, needed several months of work before he was ready to return to racing.
“He was in paddock condition when we got him,” Morton said of the rising seven-year-old.
“We got him because he’d had a few issues but I was told that he’d recover and would be able to return to racing.
“It took him a while to build but we were really happy with his run.”
Zavaboom, with apprentice Mitch Goring in the saddle, hit the line strongly to win the Class 3 Handicap over 1000m.
With TAB prizemoney of $9000, plus an additional QTIS bonus of $8500 for being bred in Queensland, the investment has already paid dividends.
“I was originally looking at the Artesian Express at Julia Creek, which has been moved to next month, but we were looking at the prizemoney for this race, which is just as good,” said Morton.
“If he didn’t win here, he could have still gone to Julia Creek.”
The seven-race program at Buchanan Park was kind to North West trainers, who saluted in five of the races.
Julia Creek’s Kerry Krogh won the opener with Combs in the Maiden Plate (1200m), while Tanya Parry had a double with Far Reaching in the 0-50 Handicap (1450m) and Santorini Sun in the Benchmark 50 Handicap (1200m).
Mount Isa trainer Jay Morris also picked up a winner when Benevento showed plenty of grit to defeat equally tough Mister Moderation in the Benchmark 65 Handicap (1450m).
Barcaldine’s Bevan Johnson returned with two winners, albeit just one of the pair finished in front.
Heavenly Legend was an impressive winner of the Class 1 Handicap (900m), however Johnson might have pulled off one of the great heists when Han Dynasty was awarded the Open Handicap (1000m) by the stewards.
Viburnum was first past the post, but runner-up jockey Nick Palmer lodged a protest, claiming that winning hoop David Sparks had cut him off approaching the 600m mark.
The stewards sided with Palmer and elevated Han Dynasty into first position, leaving the Shryn Royes-trained Viburnum as the runner-up.
In the opinion of this scribe, it was a bad decision.
While Sparks did cross Han Dynasty, the only reason he was able to do so was because Palmer was asleep in the saddle.
Despite this, Han Dynasty still produced a huge run to finish second, but shouldn’t have been handed the race in the stewards’ room.
Racing in the North West heads to the eastern boundary this Saturday at Hughenden.