THE first of a ten meeting season at the Esperance Bay Turf Club gets underway this Saturday afternoon and the first race is scheduled for 2.03pm. As per usual the opening fixture acknowledges contributors to racing in the region with five of the six events being Memorials. With the majority of gallopers resuming and/or debuting at the track finding winners won’t be easy. Last season’s leading rider Willie Arnold has a full book and he will be joined in the jockey’s room by a host of senior hoops and promising apprentices.

The B Wilson and C Murray Memorial Maiden (1000m) is the first of 61 races to be held this season. Trida Brando has impressed at two recent Esperance trials and stable mate Ella Rose has been placed twice in Perth as a two year old. Competitive Street looked a trifle unlucky at Albany on debut and should be included in Trifecta calculations.

The J Mathews and F Conway Memorial will be run over 1200m for Maidens. Gotanygoss makes her Esperance debut and wasn’t far away at Albany earlier this month. The Key Cutter wears saddlecloth number one and on November 16 won a 950m trial at Lark Hill in easy fashion. Brave Critic is likely to find 1200m too short after competing in last season’s Esperance Cup and last start placegetters Bluewater Babe and Ron’s Gem are sure to have admirers.

Race Three starts the Quaddie and is called the D Plunkett and D Banner Memorial over 1200m. Second Lady will be one of the favourites. She was a runner-up four times in a row on hard tracks in August/September and resumes for top trainer Fiona Scott. Billyaintsilly battled away well to finish second last start but his strike rate doesn’t inspire. Donargy has switched to the Brendan Corver stable and has shown plenty of talent in recent seasons but she often takes a couple of runs to reach peak fitness.

The Paul Sullivan Memorial is over 1200m and lining up the form will again be difficult. Stormy Quest won a Maiden at Kalgoorlie in July and It’s Nikov did so in May. Both Tashi Delek and Ridgewood Manna are noted frontrunners and Publicans Horse wasn’t beaten far at his last start at Northam.