13 September 2018 | TERRY NEIL
LAGOON reinsman Nathan Turnbull had his best night at the track in some time when he scored a treble, in successive races no less, at Bathurst’s Gold Crown Paceway on Wednesday.
“A while,” was his mischievous answer when asked how long it had been since he’d last achieved that feat.
And it had been a while out of the winners’ circle for each of his winners: seven runs for Freddy Funk NZ ( in C2/C3 grade) ; a maiden win, in fact the first placing, at start 10 for Carramar Times Up ; and 10 races for the fast-class victor Hidden Courage.
A modest $1 all-up on his three drives would have returned a handsome dividend of almost $2,500.
All three won in similar fashion, sitting up in the running line ( or buried away four fence before working clear, in the case of Hidden Courage ) then dashing home wide out on the track to get there in the last stride. Remarkably, they each registered the same winning margin of a neck.
Despite the generous starting prices, the wins didn’t take Nathan Turnbull by complete surprise.
“I commented only this morning that Freddy Funk’s last run, when he drew inside the second line and couldn’t get out, in a 1:54 race, was a lot better than it looks on paper.
“They gave it to me on Twitter after Hidden Courage couldn’t find a clear run at his last start, but I was prepared to find a spot on the markers again tonight and take my chances of working clear.”
The courage of this conviction was borne out as he eased seamlessly into the running line at the 600 metres point,tracked three-wide through the turn then set the horse alight four-wide at the top of the straight.
Which brings us back to Carramar Times Up, the middle leg of the treble, and racecaller C. Easey’s selection as his Drive of the Night.
The win was a just reward for an outstanding training effort with the four-year-old mare. Virtually uncontrollable when Turnbull first took her on, she’d been sent for no less than 10 trials after her most recent three starts, and her behaviour on returning to scale could best be described as “ fractious”.
But even apparently-placid horses can display minds of their own, as was demonstrated straight after this race.
Michael Hagney, the vastly-experienced and fearless Clerk-of-the-Course , a master horseman by anyone’s judgement, had dismounted to assist a placegetter in distress with tangled gear, while “Kal”, his beautiful Arabian stock horse crossbred, stood nearby, reins dangling loose over his chest, unattended and completely unbothered. What a marvellous sight, we all thought.
But when all was righted, and Michael ready to remount, “Kal” decided it was just the right moment to embark on a leisurely stroll up the straight, ignoring Michael’s loud whistles and quite enjoying the company of several of the placegetters which followed him in an attempt to coax him back.
He eventually consented to stop somewhere in the vicinity of the home turn, happy by then to reunite with Michael who’d got plenty of whistling practice as he followed him all the way, and returned in a calm, leisurely way, quite oblivious to all the frustration and amusement he’d created.
“Kal” mightn’t have followed the script on this occasion, but there’ll be other times in the future when Michael Hagney, or his brother Tony, have to gallop in amongst the packed field to retrieve a driverless horse and relieve a dangerous situation, and we’ll remember then not to take for granted the skilful and courageous role the clerks-of-the -course play in racing.
David McKenzie and McKayler Barnes weren’t taking a win for granted as they scored up with Tulhurst Cash and Jedda Shannon, respectively, in a C1 sprint later in the meeting, but each was hoping for a win to achieve a particular personal milestone.
For David, who works for Nathan Hurst, it would be his first win at Gold Crown Paceway, while McKayler, who’s part of Peter Bullock’s team, would clock up career win number 50, after a fine 2017/18 season.
McKayler had crossed David at the start, and looked set to maintain her lead down the running as David mustered speed along the sprint lane, and there appeared to be nothing between them as they hit the line together.
And there wasn’t, with the result being a dead-heat. Better than a second, for sure, but with the frustration of half a Gold Crown Paceway win, and 49-and-a-half career wins, to show for it!
Other winners, on a most interesting and eventful night were : Hot Flush NZ (KerryAnn Turner/David Morris) in a C0 Mares sprint; Aintnobettor (Amanda Turnbull) a second successive win at the track ; Lady Swiss, Mat Rue for Bernie Hewitt, showing beautiful judgement of speed in a runaway win; and Ominous Warning ( Peter Trevor-Jones/ John O’Shea) scoring his fifth win in succession, and number 11 from just 21 starts.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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