Mare Licona after a fast five at Cairns on Sunday

By Jordan Gerrans

From almost a year in the paddock to shooting for a handful of victories on the bounce, it has all turned around sharply for mare Licona.

The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro was turned out quickly after four lacklustre runs for the Lindsay Park team in Victoria.

She lasted just one race preparation for the leading Victorian stable, stepping up in distance at every start, before eventually finishing almost 15 lengths behind the winner at Ballarat in late July of last year.

Fast forward to late October of 2022, Licona is now aiming to grab her fifth straight win at Cairns’ Cannon Park on Sunday afternoon under the guidance of FNQ trainer Scott Cooper.

The 49-year-old Cooper believes her lengthy stint in the paddock was the making of Licona.

“The more starts she has had; she has turned the point to become a race horse,” he said.

“Being the breed she is, I think the year off would have done her the world of good.

“She will definitely get further than what she is doing now, she has already won over 1500 metres, which she did quite easily.

“She has just turned into a horse that likes to race.”

Licona has risen through the grades smartly, winning a maiden and a Class 1 over the recent North Queensland carnival, before quickly adding a Benchmark 55 and 58 to her hit list.

In that Benchmark 58 contest over 1400 metres last start, Cooper described the performance as “pretty dominant” as she put them away by two lengths after being back in the field in the early and middle stages.

To add to her four straight triumphs, the five-year-old mare contests a Class 6 Handicap over 1400 metres on Sunday.

If Licona is to get to the level Cooper and connections hope she can, then it is a necessary step up.

“She has to go there, if she is going to be any good then this is where she needs to head,” Cooper said.

“She gets in with 54.5kgs on her back in this race, which is great as she has not carried that in some time.

“It will be a big step up and Stephen Massingham’s horse Tycoon Beau will be tough to beat in the race.”

Winning sequences are nothing new for the Cooper barn after they had the now retired Hot Shot Harry win three on the trot back in 2019.

Despite not setting the world on fire in her four Victorian starts for Tom Dabernig and the Hayes’, Cooper thought there was something to work with.

“When I watched her replays, even in the 2100 metre race, she travelled right up until the final corner,” Cooper said.

“But, she just did not fire in the straight.

“Maybe she could not get that far at that moment.”

Cooper – a former jockey that rides much of his own work in Cairns – says the progressive galloper has slowly improved since she arrived in the north of the Sunshine State.

“Even in her first gallop I did not think a great deal of her,” he said.

“And, she was a bit prickly in her first jump-out, but she trialled pretty good from there.”

Meanwhile, former Victorian-based jockey Kyle Hocking will have his first rides as a Cairns resident this Sunday after making the permanent move up.

Previously living and working out of Geelong, Hocking visited FNQ for a week earlier this month for a trial period while considering a permanent relocation.

Hocking picked up a winner – for Cooper at Atherton – that week and that was enough to convince him to make the move north.

The lightweight hoop has five bookings for Sunday’s card.

The Cairns Jockey Club meeting on Sunday will host a Country Heist Benchmark 58 Handicap, which boasts increased prize money than a regular provincial level TAB meeting race.