HORSE RACING
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JADED Dreams was first out of the gates at Port Macquarie Race Club during Wednesday's barrier trials.
The Jenny Graham-trained two-year-old filly finished second to Marc Quinn's Cogliere and ahead of John Sprague's Shelly Beach Road.
The trials were the first test for the new track.
Graham had six horses participate at the trials.
While she didn't have the chance to ask her jockeys what they made of the conditions the general feeling was the track held up well.
"I thought personally it still had a bit of kick-back and was soft in patches, but it's nice to be able to have our horses back on our own grass," she said.
"But we've got to be patient with it and know it will take a while for it to return after the first run."
Race club president Michael Bowman said they were quite happy with the day.
He knows they are still in the experimental stage with the upkeep of the track.
It is now full steam ahead for the Wauchope Cup on June 19.
"It's still a learning process because it's a new surface and it was the first time we've used the penetrometer," he said.
"We just need to know which section we need to pump the water into the grass and where to ease up a bit."
Bowman said he expected the track to "settle down" in the next 12 to 18 months.
Curators will continue to cut and roll the grass although he admitted the grass would slow down in its growth now the weather was cooling.
"We'll just let nature take its course," Bowman said.