18/05/2026
📰 Racing from Colin Hodges
Wagga Wagga based Darrell Burnet, a relatively newcomer to the trainers rank who landed his first winner in 2021, has already become well established and achieved one of his best results on Sunday when his 6 year old gelding Astunner won the $40,000 Parkes Services Club Parkes Cup.
Given a great run behind the leader by
Mikayla Weir, Astunner ($9) overhauled the Clint Lundholm, Dubbo trained Stockholm (Zoe Hunt, $16) to win the 1600 metres Cup by almost two lengths with Jasper’s Way (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $6) running on well for third.
Jasper’s Way is trained at Dubbo by Michael Mulholland who had earlier unveiled the very impressive debut maker Heaps Of Notice to win the opening event.
A 6 year old mare, Heaps Of Notice had revealed outstanding potential when beating the very good gallopers Lockdown Gamble and Quasimodo in a barrier trial at Dubbo and started the $2.20 favourite for the 1000 metres McPhersons Parts & Service/ Parkes Taxis Maiden Handicap.
Settling well back, Heaps Of Notice under the expert guidance of talented apprentice Jacob Stiff, steamed home to win by a half length from the Sharon Jeffries, Parkes trained Kingdom Heart (Grant Buckley, $8) with Nucleaire (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $11) in third place.
The 1400 metres Parkes Services Club Super Maiden Plate had a $22,000 first prize however the owners of the winner were entitled to receive a $100,000 Inglis Extra Bonus if their horse was qualified for the bonus.
Parkes had been selected as one of the hosts for the Inglis series and for the second year in succession at Parkes the $100,000 bonus was won by a qualifier, this time by the Matthew Dale, Goulburn trained grey filly Graynita.
Taking the lead from Yeszem in the straight, Graynita (Louise Day, $31) held off by a half length the fast finishing Spiritual Star (Brodie Loy, $41) and the Sydney trained Che Ole (Chad Lever, $3.10 equal favourite).
Owned by the McMahon family from Tullamore, the seven year old mare Miss Jennifer staged a good performance to win the feature sprint, the 1200 metres Coachman Hotel Punters Club Satellite Handicap.
Coming from the tail of the field with a strong run on the inside, the Danny Williams, Goulburn trained Miss Jennifer (Mathew Cahill, $6 to $4.40) arrived in time to beat Panic (Louise Day, $3.70 favourite) and Mountain Top (Jacob Stiff, $5.50).
Rain during the day softened the track however trainers and jockeys agreed the racing surface was outstanding for the 8 races meeting.
Parkes will next race on Saturday 6th June with the long weekend meeting traditionally attracting a huge crowd.
Meanwhile, the Cobar Cup is on Saturday and
Wellington Race Club N.S.W TAB the following Tuesday.
📸RacingPhotography.com.au
