Excitement builds ahead of Grafton’s five-day carnival

3 hours ago 3

By John Schell

July 5, 2025 — 5.00pm

Clarence River Jockey Club chief executive Michael Beattie is looking forward to Grafton’s five-day July carnival, which kicks off at the Northern Rivers track on Sunday.

Grafton will host meetings over the next three Sundays, with the feature Ramornie Handicap and Grafton Cup double to be contested on Wednesday, July 16 and Thursday, July 17, respectively.

“It’s an exciting time for the club, and it’s always a very competitive carnival,” Beattie said.

“We had massive nominations for this weekend’s meeting and ended up with nine races. It’s a prelude day for the feature races of the carnival, so from a punting perspective, Sunday’s meeting is worth taking close note of.”

The Grafton Gas & Plumbing John Carlton Quality (1190m) is a lead-up to the $200,000 Ramornie Handicap, while the McKimms Real Estate Grafton Cup Quality Prelude (2230m) is a forerunner to the $200,000 Grafton Cup.

There will be two divisions of the 2YO Springboard Prelude Maiden Plate (1015m), which leads into the Springboard To Fame 2YO Showcase Plate on cup day. The Herb Blanchard Haulage Grafton Guineas Prelude 3YO Benchmark 66 Handicap (1420m) and the Dougherty Property Country Boosted Belflyer Prelude Class 3 Handicap (1115m) are other events that lead to features in cup week.

Murwillumbah trainer Matthew Dunn will have his usual strong team of contenders going around at Grafton on Sunday, headed by Full Of Sincerity in the Cup Prelude with Damien Thornton to ride.

Stable apprentice Jett Newman will partner The Torque Xpress in the second division of the Springboard Prelude.

Insinuate (Newman) and Flame Tree Star (Thornton) line up in the Grafton Guineas Prelude, while Yendy (Newman) will be Dunn’s representative in the John Carlton Quality.

Written Fame (Newman) and Pierre Cardinnigan (Thornton) face off against each other for Dunn in the Belflyer Prelude.

Wyong trainer Kristen Buchanan has form stayer Stylebender set to line up against Full Of Sincerity in the Grafton Cup Prelude.

Apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald sticks with Stylebender, having won on the galloper last time out at Newcastle. The gelding won at Wyong before that when Jay Ford was in the saddle.

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