01 November 2021 | HRNSW MEDIA | MICHAEL DUMESNY
IT is a relief for the Goulburn Harness Racing Club that Covid-19 restrictions have eased, particularly with the recent removal of regionalised racing.
Goulburn is in a unique location where city trainers, particularly from Menangle, can easily frequent.
Southern and central region trainers can also get to Goulburn to compete within a few hours.
This is certainly the case this afternoon with the club attracting capacity fields on a nine-race program.
“We were really pleased with the number of nominations we received for this meeting,” said the club’s racing manager Mark Croatto.
“It is great to be able to throw our arms open and welcome back trainers and drivers from all regions.
“Unfortunately, we are not opening up to the public this afternoon.
“But moving forward we will look to welcome patrons back as the State Government further eases restrictions.
“Today’s program offers punters plenty of value with some evenly-graded fields; it is a well-balanced meeting with horses coming from many different areas, which is a real feather in the cap for us.
“Our local trainers have been flying the flag high for our region at other tracks during the restricted period so it will be great to see them back on home soil today.”
And when it comes to locals, today’s opening race, the Sun Solutions Goulburn Trotters Mobile is dominated by them, with seven of the 10 runners trained in the area.
Grant Forrest has five of those, while Steven Lee has one and James Rattray the other, namely Araignee Flair, who has won her past four starts.
Sam Hewitt has just two runners at the meeting, but both appear to be genuine winning chances.
His first comes up in Race 2 when he will partner the lightly-raced Flashlight Dancer, who gets her chance after drawing gate three.
The filly made her debut at Wagga on September 3 when she got home well from back in the field to finish third.
More recently, she contested a Wagga heat of the NSW Breeders Challenge and finished a handy fourth.
Later in the afternoon, Hewitt has Angelic Miss engaged (Race 7), a consistent mare that won at Young on October 12.
The best bet on today’s program comes up in the final event where Hy Voltage looks well placed after drawing the pole.
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