Ground cat
Brett Kichching
Jockey Michael Rod returned from a Queensland base on a hot afternoon in Bundamba today.
Road picked La Redi Rosa for a sharp victory in the second race of the day and in his first ride since returning to Queensland on a permanent basis.
Mercury touched 38 degrees in the middle of the race and reached a peak at 3.30pm.
Rod is no stranger to riding in Queensland after completing his training in Sunshine State.
In the 2003-04 season, Rod collected the premiere of Ipswich Jockey in his first year as a senior jockey.
He won the training premiere at Ipswich for three consecutive seasons.
Rod moved to Hong Kong shortly before returning to Australia in 2005.
Coincidentally, the first road trip in Australia at the time was back in Ipswich for the winner.
Michael Rod then moved to a Victorian base that eventually won a Melbourne Cup in 2007.
The following year he collected a Cox’s Plate Win on the Maldivian coast.
Since then, Road has spent many years in the saddle in Singapore before returning to Australia to ride mainly in the southern states.
Jockey Michael Rod rides his first ride in Queensland to win La Redi Rosa in Ipswich.
Today marks the first time in more than 15 years that he has returned to Queensland.
La Reddy Rosa was coached by Tony Golan and started his first run today after two trials.
Despite an outward pull from the difficult 800-meter start, a perfect ride off the road led three-year-old Pali Duff to train under Pat Duff in the shadow of Proudley Gray’s position.
This was Tony Golan’s ninth win of the season as he moved into one of the ladder leads created by Chris Moons.
Jockey Michael Rod aboard La Reddy Rosa
Valle Bob Bayliss
The fifth race of the day at Ipswich was named after former course clerk Bob Bayliss, who died tragically on Tuesday.
The funeral was held with a close family in the past.
Today, three generations were in attendance at Ipswich with Bob’s wife, Hazel, for the “Wally Bob Bayless Handicap.”
The winner of the race was Greti for Tuanba trainer Harry Richardson. That gives rider Justin Stanley a race-to-race double.
Bob’s late father, Colin, was a living member of the Ipswich Turf Club, and Bob had been a course clerk for four decades.
Bob’s daughter Sharon served the course for two decades and famously led her brother Jamie to a comeback after his victory over Dixie Kid in the 1989 Ipswich Cup.
Jamie’s sons Reagan and Jack continue to make their way as key jockeys, each winning three Group 1s early in their careers.
Another generation of the family is working at the Ipswich Turf Club as Sharon’s daughter Courtney Langlands has become accustomed to a smiling face on patronage race days.
The family received the best wishes from the club after the loss of another member of the famous Ipswich Racing Ballis family.
Next appointment
IPSwitch Racing will continue next Wednesday in December, followed by meetings on Thursday 17th and 24th to watch 2020 racing.
The 2021 race at Bundamba marks the beginning of New Year’s Day.
