by Terry Neil
FOUROEIGHT, the horse named in memory of champion cricketer Phil Hughes, added more runs to the board with a career-best performance in a C3/C4 Menangle Country Series heat at Group One Feeds Paceway on Wednesday.
The Mat Rue-trained and driven four-year-old took full advantage of a favourable barrier three to lead throughout, keeping the tempo brisk with a 59-seconds first half then quickening markedly over the last half in 55.9 seconds, for a 1:54.4 mile rate.
His third quarter of 27.7 seconds, reminiscent of a Hughes quick single, kept the chasing pack at bay as they turned for home but he was made to earn the win as Swaggie Shannon came off his back late to flash home for the closest of seconds.
“That’s the fastest he’s ever gone in winning, which is quite surprising because he ‘s really not a leader, he is actually much better with a trail,” commented Rue after the win.
And is he capable of picking up one of those lucrative Menangle finals?
“Absolutely, if he gets a decent draw and races close enough to the lead, he’s capable of winning, and in very quick time as well,” his trainer added.
The earlier C1-class Club Menangle Where Horses Fly heat also resulted in an all-the-way win, for the Amanda Turnbull-trained My Bettor Bella NZ, the mare stopping the clock at 1:55.1 after maintaining a strong speed throughout.
This was the first leg of a driving double for Turnbull, who backed up with Written In Style in a C5- backed conditioned event, using the sprint lane to reel in leader Haka Shannon, who had to be content with the runner-up possie for the third time running.
Amanda Turnbull admits it’s taken her a while to warm to the Bathurst sprint lane. She says she was impatient previously, bustling her horses as soon as she got into it, but now she makes sure they’re balanced up before she really goes for them.
Her success rate via the lane this season indicates she’s learned that lesson well.
Mitchell Turnbull and Robbie Morris also collected driving doubles at Wednesday ‘s meeting.
Cherry Mahoney, all the way in a C1 conditioned sprint with a last half in 56.7 seconds, and Hidden Courage, which finished strongly from mid-field in a 3YO sprint, supplied Mitchell with his wins. Together with Amanda’s victory on Written In Style, they gave Steve Turnbull a treble to further increase his runaway lead in the Bathurst trainers premiership.
The Robbie Morris double, both trained by his partner Kerryann Turner, was achieved with Smokey Quartz in the fast-class, coming hard along the sprint lane to grab leader Karloo Kix, with a scintillating final quarter in 27.2 seconds, and with debutant Ritchie Bee, which raced behind the leader in the 2YO final event, and finished well to hold off another first starter in Peat Green.
This was also a double for the owner, Dorro Nominees, and Robbie Morris was keen to acknowledge the strong support given to the stable by John Dorrington.
Machgower was the other winner at the meeting, the Dennis Picker-trained and driven three-year-old finishing a little too strongly for leader Star Play in C0 class, giving him three wins for the term and making up for two recent seconds at the track.
Runners in the second race, the conditioned class taken out by Cherry Mahoney, wore black armbands to mark the passing earlier in the week of popular Bathurst horseman Ian Mutton, whose life will be celebrated at Group One Feeds Paceway next Tuesday.
Ian trained and drove many good horses in a long and successful career but will be remembered most of all as a smiling, engaging character who always had a joke,or three, to share with everyone.
He will be missed by everyone, especially racetrack interviewers who could always depend on him for interesting and forthright commentary.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
