Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, August 14, 2012 — 29

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Stormy Rebel steals showBRAVE little gelding StormyRebel stole the heart of a racingcommunity when he scored anupset victory at Pioneer Park onSunday.

It was the first day of racing inthe new season and StormyRebel’s win put on display all thepassion and romance thorough-bred racing should always beabout.

His story contains many charac-ters, not the least of whom isevergreen trainer Emmie Wehr.

Not an easy horse to handle,Stormy Rebel has often providedWehr with difficult moments buthe is the backbone of her stable.

On Sunday he engaged in aspeed duel with noted leaderAusbred Royal and he refused tobend.

They went at a cracking tempoand it was Stormy Rebel whocame out unscathed.

He put Ausbred Royal to thesword on the final corner, but hadto hold off a fast-finishing Mironand Vo Jester.

It was a wonderful moment tosee leading trainer Lisa Lefoeembrace Wehr after the victoryand offer congratulations, othertrainers followed suit and, for justa brief moment, a thoroughbredcommunity merged as one.

That is the mystery and magicof racing. Stormy Rebel’s win gaverider Kacie Connor her secondwin of the day.

Connor won the previous raceon board Joken Jim for trainerGreg Connor and, in the process,

delivered a faultless ride.He travelled kindly for her in

behind the leaders before un-leashing a solid finishing run forhome.

Class galloper Dieselfuel carried62.5 kilograms in winning theopening event for trainer Lefoe,but it was a white-knuckle finishthat saw last season’s leadingtrainer rapidly tr immingfingernails with her teeth.

The chestnut was nursed asmuch as possible by jockey PaulDenton and reached the lead 100mfrom the judge.

A late surge from Good Decisiononly just came up short. Dieselfuel

is a great fighter and has come along way in his time with Lefoe.

He has been brash and full ofattitude in the past and he istestament to Lefoe’s ability as atrainer.

Terry Gillett was again success-ful and won with former SouthAustralian Kel Of A Shot and thegifted Prince Of Hope.

Kel Of A Shot gave Denton adouble in the first two races withan authorative front-running win,while Prince Of Hope returned tothe winners’ circle when he de-feated Simmona under the skilledhands of Ben Cornell.

Celtic sizzle past ScorpionsSOCCER

Warren Thomson

Celtic’s JamesTudor and Scorpions’ Atesh Maharaj compete for possession Picture: MICHAEL POTTS

CELTIC are still in the huntfor top spot after comfortab-ly defeating Football In Cen-tral Australia A gradeleague-leaders Scorpions 4-0on Saturday night at RossPark.

Scorpions were missingsome key players but Celticcame out to play and con-trolled the game.

Celtic had a 1-0 lead at halftime, with Mark Sheehanscoring the opening goal ofthe game in the 32nd minute,but they got some breathingspace in the 54th as a greatcross from Jack Snowdonfound Kris Wheeler, who putthe ball into the bottom cor-ner.

Wheeler scored again inthe 69th minute and IngmarKohler scored almost im-mediately to cap off the 4-0win.

It was a confidence-boosting win for Celtic as itwas the first time they haddefeated Scorpions thisseason.

Celtic manager DavidBrooks said: ‘‘I’m reallyhappy with the result. We’vebeen playing like that allyear, but on Saturday nightwe finally finished off.

‘‘The result was exactlywhat we wanted as it gives usa chance of winning theleague.

‘‘We needed the win for ourconfidence more than any-thing as we will probablymeet them in the finals.

‘‘Jack Snowdon was verygood along the wing and KrisWheeler played well in themiddle and scored two goals.’’

In the other A grade game,Vikings recorded a comfort-able 7-0 win over Verdi onSunday.

Richard Clarke led the waywith two goals, while JasonTimberley, Richard Farrell,Miles Devonshire, PatrickO’Donnell and player-manager Jai Cross scored

one goal each.

It was another good win byVikings, who have scored 23goals in their last threegames against Verdi, butthey will now be looking to

convert that success intowins against Celtic and Scor-pions.

Cross said: ‘‘It was anothergood win against Verdi. Itseems like they are the only

team we can beat at themoment.

‘‘The boys just seem torelax a lot more with the ballagainst Verdi, and everyoneput pressure on them, but we

need to play like that whenwe take on Celtic and Scor-pions.

‘‘We had different goalscorers so it was a pretty goodteam effort.’’

CourtsuccessTENNIS

Warren Thomson

ALICE Springs ten-nis players have re-turned from Mt Isaafter a successfulAustralian MoneyTournament (AMT)campaign.

Katherine Camp-bell was the stand-out performer, whorecovered from hero p e n w o m e n ’ ssingles final lossagainst Ipswich’sEden Bruce to beatBruce in the under-18 women’s final 6-3,2-1 before Bruce re-tired with a hip in-jury.

T e n n i s A l i c eSprings managerMatt Roberts said:‘‘Katherine had agreat tournament,a n d t h a t t u r naround in such ashort amount oftime shows her will-ingness to improve.’’

Ethan Scobie tooko u t t h e m i x e ddoubles with MtIsa’s Akiko Nurawith an 8-5 win overEden Bruce andMatt O’Neale, whileScobie also madethe quarter final inhis first big singlestournament in threeyears.

He was very com-petitive in the quar-ter final, going downin three sets.

Jake Johan lostthe under-18 final ina hard-fought 7-5,7-6 contest, but helost to an experi-enced campaignerin the consolationmen’s final.

R o b e r t s s a i d :‘‘Jake had a coupleof good wins and itwas his first tourna-ment in five weeksas he took time offfor the rugby leaguer e p r e s e n t a t i v eseason.’’

T e n n i s A l i c eSprings presidentTony Jennison anddoubles partnerGary Bigg took outthe A grade men’sdoubles final.

Roberts said: ‘‘Itwas good to see aw i d e r a n g e o fplayers from theclub taking part andwe will make it animportant event onour calendar.’’

School thrives on Olympic Games spiritSCHOOL SPORT

Warren Thomson

ACACIA Hill School celebrated theend of the London 2012 Olympics andthe beginning of the Paralympicswith an Olympic-themed day onFriday.

The children had an opening cere-mony before taking part in a varietyof sports, and the day was finishedwith sprints.

Everyone was a winner on the dayas all the children went home with atrophy.

Acacia Hill School teacherBrendan Colville said: ‘‘The daystarted with an opening ceremonyand we ran the Olympic torcharound the school and then lit up theOlympic flame.

‘‘They then did a range of Olympicsports including equestrian, wheresome of our students put a horse

head on their wheelchair and racedaround, and a judo instructor camein to give the students hints and tips.

‘‘We also had bike riding, volleyballand a relay race and, to finish off, thekids did some sprints and there was astaff and parents race.’’

Colville said it was a great day.

He said: ‘‘It was a good way tocelebrate the end of the Olympicsand the start of the Paralympics.

‘‘The kids got decked out and face-

painted in Olympic colours and theyall had a fun time.’’

The school regularly runs differentthemed activities throughout theyear.

Colville said: ‘‘Next week we haveScience Week and we’ve got somescience experiments and other activi-ties organised.

‘‘These kinds of activities are allabout giving the kids the chance tohave a red-hot crack and make themost of their abilities.’’