14 December 2022 | Ashleigh Paikos
With a big crowd on course, Wagin trotting club celebrated 100 years of pacing action at their community track with an eight-race card on December 11, featuring the TABTouch Better Your Bet 3YO Westbred Final as well as the Jos Armstrong Memorial just to name a few.
Elsamay took top honours in the 3YO Westbred Final, with the John Graham trained filly settling in the breeze throughout over the 2180m distance, holding down a small margin in the finish to win by a short-half-head over race favourite Showpony. Driven by Kyle Harper, there was a protest following the final with Showpony’s trainer/driver Nathan Turvey lodging due to Harpers runner Elsamay shifting up the track in the concluding stages, which was dismissed by the stewards on the day, with numbers standing and all clear given soon after.
“It’s always good when your horse wins, but you just never know which way it’s going to go, watching on the outside, we don’t know what’s going on, on the track.” Smallacombe said in relation to the protest.
Elsamay, who recorded her first win in almost four months, has been racing in good form of late, with the youngster claiming 6th place in the Gr3 $30,000 WA Country Derby Final at Pinjarra four weeks earlier.
Small in stature, but big in attitude, the little filly received her name after her owner Reg Smallacombe has watched Born Free the night before and when a tiny little filly appeared in his paddock the next morning, Elsa was perfect name for his little runt.
“John said to her that I better get her race name in, so I called her Elsamay, because she may make it to the track, she may not.”
Captain Dandi took out the first on the card for Graeme Waters and Emily Johnson, with the $2.65 favourite braving it in the breeze, holding on for a narrow victory over the 2180m in 2:03:9. The five-year-old has been racing in good form since heading to the Bridgetown based trainer, having the 19 starts now for two wins and 11 top four placings for his new connections.
Father and son duo Daryl and Dean Miller joined forces in the second, with Cohlin leading all the way over the 1776m sprint trip, with Miller kicking away to win comfortably by 15.2m on the line.
Peter King made the trip over from Coolup with Battlescard which proved fruitful with the three-year-old leading all the way in race three for reinsman Hayden Hancock. With almost a year between wins, Battlescard found the front from barrier two, kicking away eventually to win by 10.7m over his rivals.
Nathan Turvey and Maddy Young got the win in race four with Mea Culpa coming from behind to win by a half head margin in the Jos Armstrong Memorial over the 2180m journey. After starting from barrier four, Young and the five-year-old found themselves in the one-out-one-back position and after being dragged back to the rear with around 600m to go, Young was able to angle her way out wide to steam home to take a narrow victory.
Fleur Du Maquis continued her good form, overcoming the 60m handicap in race six for Bianca Ashcroft and Kyle Symington. The four-year-old stepped well off the back marker before breaking her gait for a few strides, but was soon back down into a pace, with Symington eventually urging her forward to settle in the one-one and with 400m to go, the pair were off three wide to come home the better over the 2540m standing start trip to win by 2.3m.
Six-year-old Caruba broke a 20-start losing sequence on Sunday, with Peter Tilbrook preparing the quinella in race seven. Driven by Shannon Suvaljko, the $3.30 favourite led all the way from barrier four, eventually kicking away from her stable mate to win by 9.1m.
The last on the card was with the maidens, with Rose To Fame breaking through at start 23 for Jeremy Thornton, giving Hayden Hancock a driving double on the card. The red headed four-year-old started from barrier five over the 1776m sprint trip distance, but eventually settled in the one-one before going three wide at around the 400m mark to go on to win by 1.9m for the breeder, owner and trainer.
It was the last meeting of the season for Wagin, with Hayden Reeves taking out leading trainer on 49 points, making it three years in a row for the Coolup based stable. Trent Wheeler’s driving in career best form and although he wasn’t on track for Sunday’s meeting, he managed to take out leading club driver on 37 points.
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