TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD apprentice Jade Metcalfe celebrated her “30th” in fine style at the Moree Ag Supplies and Steel TAB meeting on Tuesday when Mootessa angled between runners at the top of the straight to comfortably win the 1600m Syngenta Australia BM-58 Handicap.

Metcalfe, apprenticed to Wayne Nugent at Toowoomba, reduced her claim to one-and-a-half kilos when Mootessa raced clear where it mattered to win narrowly.

“That was my 30th career winner, so my claim drops half-a-kilo,” Metcalfe smiled.

Mootessa ($7) sat off the speed for most of the journey before darting through on straightening to score by a half-neck from Josh Oliver’s London Point ($5), with Wayne Brown’s $3.70 favourite Big Short more than a length away third.

Toowoomba apprentice Jade Metcalfe rode her 30th career winner at Moree on Tuesday, bringing her claim down to 1.5kg.

“She jumped really well. Ideally, I wanted to be maybe three pairs back. We were two pairs back at max, but she was practically walking and travelling really nicely for me,” Metcalfe said.

“As the race picked up at around the 600m, I slowly gave her a little click up. I felt so much horse under me, I knew we had it then,” she smiled.

“She started improving by the corner, and when there was only one horse to get past in the straight, I knew we had the race.”

Fellow apprentices Zoe Hunt, Tilly McCarroll and Izzy Neale also added wins to their burgeoning logbooks at the Moree meeting.

Neale partnered Melissa Dennett’s Super Sioux ($12) to a half-length win in the 950m Infrabuild Steel Centre Tamworth BM-66 Handicap.

Super Sioux stretched her record to five wins from 10 starts, and two from two this preparation.

Izzy Neale and Super Sioux return to scale after winning impressively at Moree on Tuesday.

“I won on her last start as well, and was really happy to get the win today,” Neale said.

“We were towards the tail of the field because there was quite a lot of early speed. I opted to ease her and let her settle in the back half of the field, and she ran on really well.

“She’s definitely a nice horse,” Neale said.

Zoe Hunt and Fantasy Crowned ($6.50), trained at Dubbo by Nelly Galea, claimed the 1400m Metalcorp Tamworth Class 1 Handicap by half-a-length from Craig Martin’s Halle Bee ($4.20), with Ridge Wilson’s Meddlesome ($3.80fav) a long-head away third.

“Nelly has prepared him beautifully – had him nice and fresh for today,” Hunt said.

“We thought he might’ve wanted a mile, but I think he likes a fresh 1400m. The speed was on and he got a beautiful tail into the race behind Halle Bee.

“He attacked the line super and I’m really happy with how he went today,” Hunt said.

Zoe Hunt returns to scale on Fantasy Crowned for Dubbo trainer Nelly Galea.

Former Sydney apprentice Tilly McCarroll guided Scott Singleton’s impressive juvenile It Stays in Vegas to a soft win in the 950m Conquest Crop Protection Maiden Plate.

The two-year-old, having its sixth start and a well-tried $1.55 favourite, sat in the middle of the pack before racing clear in the straight to score by two-and-a-half lengths from She’s a Wild One ($10) and Reigning Captain ($6.50).

“He tried really hard to the line and felt fantastic,” McCarroll said.

“I think Scott will look at starting him over a touch further. He was very impressive today.”