By Michael Floyd
Craig Newitt rode his 150th winner at Southside Racing Cranbourne on Friday night breaking the long-standing record of the late Peter Mertens.
Riding the Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans-trained On Broadway, Newitt settled third behind odds-on favourite Sumo Sandy over the 1600m maiden before taking a split on the turn and powering to his record-breaking win.
“It was brought to my attention the middle of last year that I was getting close to the record,” said Newitt, better known as ‘Froggy’ in racing circles.
“Obviously Pete was a great rider and a local legend.
“He was a great friend; this is a very humbling moment.
“I sat alongside Pete in the jockey room for a number of years.
“He was good friends with my father which is a pretty special memory, and obviously Beau (Peter’s son), who I’m good friends with as well, is following in Pete’s footsteps.”
Hailing from Launceston, Newitt rode his first Cranbourne winner in September 2002, the then apprentice guiding home Grand Falls for his former boss, Lee Freedman.
Newitt has ridden over 2300 winners – including 33 at Group 1 level – over his career, rating Cranbourne as one his favourite, and most successful, circuits.
“Cranbourne has been a good place for me, especially early in my career,” he said.
“The guys that I rode for, Mick Price, Peter Moody and a lot of those Caulfield based trainers had a lot of runners here.
“The tighter track suited my style of riding so I rode a lot of winners early when I first moved over and it continued from there.
“It’s a track I’ve had a lot of success at and hopefully it continues.”
Among his Cranbourne highlights are his two Ladbrokes Cranbourne Cup wins, each coming in very different circumstances.
His first victory came on board Boom ‘N’ Zoom for local trainers Ken and Kasey Keys.
Settling at the back of the field in heavy conditions, Boom ‘N’ Zoom powered down the middle of the track to score a popular victory in front of a huge local crowd.
His second came aboard Mourinho, who would lead all of the way in fast conditions before going on to win at Group 1 level and finish his career with more than $1.3m in prize money.
“We were bananas and oranges me and old Mourinho,” Newitt recalled.
“He had a really bad tendency to lay out, and me being a left hander really wasn’t a good recipe but we seemed to click for whatever reason.
“I was confident so far from home with this horse that as long as I could get him around the corners that he was going to be hard to run down.
“Once he got into his rhythm, he was happy and wasn’t too bad, but as he had a tendency to do, I ended up in the middle of the track and took a few with me.
“I ended up getting suspended and missed a Caulfield Cup ride so it was probably not a highlight, but it was a memory for certain.”
Newitt will look to add to his tally as racing continues at Southside Cranbourne each Friday until the end of May, including the Good Friday Dual Codes meeting on Friday 18 April.
The meeting features free kids rides and activities, DJ ‘Nothin But 90s vs 00s’, and a concert featuring Dale Ryder from Boom Crash Opera and Tristan Ross after the last.
