Personal milestone for young reinsman

PROMISING young reinsman Matthew Atkinson completed a personal goal yesterday.

Making a rare trip to Club Menangle, Atkinson scored with recent stable addition Call Me Jack to break his maiden at the world class venue.

“I am rapt to get a win at Menangle,” Atkinson said. “It has taken a while, but it is great to finally get it.

“I don’t get there very often as I usually race at the provincial tracks closer to home.

“Menangle is definitely the premier track and winning there is something I have been hoping to do.

“One day when I get my licence to drive there on a Saturday night, the next goal is to get a metropolitan winner at Menangle.”

Making his debut for Atkinson’s trainer-father Dean, Call Me Jack was settled two-back along the pegs from barrier two as Chief Runningcloud led from gate nine.

Gaining an opening at the top of the home straight, Call Me Jack completed a neck victory from the fast-finishing Last Clansman, with Chief Runningcloud a metre away third.

“We’ve only had him for a couple of weeks and are still only getting to know him, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but up the back straight he felt strong, so I started feeling pretty confident with him,” Atkinson said.

“We had a bit of luck when I came off the inside, which helped, but he still had to be good enough to finish it off.

“Matthew Purcell brought him up from Victoria for the Carousel Series and then left him with Dad as he felt there were better options for him here.

“He showed us a fair bit yesterday, which adds confidence that he can keep going back to Menangle, which will most likely happen again next Tuesday.”