Hunters head to Perth for winter campaign
Albany trainer Paul Hunter and apprentice jockey Casey Hunter will base themselves in Perth for the winter racing season with a small but quality team of horses from their Albany stable.
The local father-daughter combination, fresh off a winning end to the Great Southern season with Accrual last Thursday, will make the switch to Perth this weekend with a strong team that includes Fitzpatrick Plate winner Dream Lifter, smart sprinters Du Printemps and Le Sacre, rising star Quality Fair and 2013-14 Great Southern Horse of the Year, Talk Of Angels.
Paul will be based at the Lark Hill stables of Broome-bound trainer Darryn Pateman for about 10 weeks and said the decision to temporarily switch to Perth was to reduce the travel on his horses.
"We are taking up that main bunch, along with four two-year-olds," Paul said.
"We want to educate those babies, we will try to trial them and see what happens from there and race those older horses.
"The main reason is to reduce the travel; hopefully they can settle in well and race well without that travel."
Paul said the return of star sprinter Dream Lifter is imminent after a minor setback following his slashing victory in the $75,000 Fitzpatrick Plate (1232m) on Easter Sunday.
"He had a foot abscess," Paul said. "He had two weeks in the stable and then a week in the paddock, but he's just come back in."
In 2014-15 Paul has 16 provincial victories and one metropolitan success to his name with Du Printemps, who was a last start winner at Ascot in Saturday grade, freshened up for a winter campaign.
The move will also benefit 20-year-old apprentice Casey, who has ridden 14 provincial and seven country winners so far this season, as she continues her development in the saddle.
"I want to get a bit more experience and hopefully pick up a few rides at the provincials," she said.
"I will go to Port Hedland and Carnarvon and hopefully ride) at Northam and Pinjarra.
"I'm improving and learning heaps from Dad, and the more you ride the better you will get."
