Byrne to Ride Perfect Dare in Eye Liner Stakes

In-form hoop Jim Byrne has been confirmed to take the ride on leading contender Perfect Dare, when he takes his position in Saturday’s Listed Eye Liner Stakes field at Ipswich Racecourse.

Perfect Dare (inside) will be ridden by Jim Byrne in Saturday’s Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich. Photo: Daniel Costello

Byrne has been in outstanding form in 2017 and has won two Group 1 races through the Brisbane Winter Carnival; the Doomben 10,000 (1200m) aboard Redzel and the Group 1 JJ Atkins (1600m) on classy two-year-old Capital Gain last weekend.

Having partnered the Matt Dunn-trained four-year-old through much of his twenty-start career so far, Byrne is thrilled to be returning to the horse’s saddle in the Eye Liner Stakes, for the first time since a dominant win in the Grafton Country Championships Qualifier (1400m) on February 13^th.

“It’s been a great achievement for me because it is normally pretty difficult during winter carnival time, as jockeys from Sydney and Melbourne come up here and take the cream of the crop of the rides,” Byrne told Racenet.

“But all credit has to go to my manager Cameron Partington.

“He has been on the ball since before the carnival began and he hasn’t stopped doing things for me and chasing rides.”

Perfect Dare returned in late spring for sixth in a Rosehill minor over 1100m, before returned to Brisbane and winning form in the National Jockeys Trust Plate (1200m) on November 19^th.

Running second in a 1200m race at Rosehill on December 3^rd, the Fastnet Rock gelding failed to fire in Sydney on Christmas Eve, but responded with an agonizingly-close second in the Magic Millions Trophy (1400m) in January, in what was his only other start prior to the Grafton Country Championships Qualifier.

Perfect Dare was sent of a clear favourite in the Country Championships Final (1400m) at Randwick on Day 1 of The Championships, but failed to produce anything in the final straight and finishing twelfth.

Having trialled well in the lead-up to winter, Perfect Dare resumed for a smart third in the Group 2 Moreton Cup (1200m) a fortnight ago.

The 2017 Eye Liner Stakes field and barrier draw is due to be completed and released by midday Wednesday.

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