25 September 2018 | TERRY NEIL
A 50th birthday celebration on the Gold Coast back in July was the catalyst for the debut win of Pop The Bubbles at Bathurst Gold Crown Paceway last Wednesday night.
Nicki Inwood, Nicole Lavelle and Kellie Dunbar took time from Grant Inwood’s birthday bash to watch Amanda Turnbull’s Albion Park Group One win with Tact Tate and decided that they’d like to share the excitement of owning a successful horse.
And it should be named after the pina coladas they happened to be drinking at the time.
Things moved very quickly after that with fellow celebrant Jenny Turnbull straightaway making contact with Amanda, who explained that she’d been keeping an eye on a Sportswriter filly over in New Zealand, which would be just the ticket for the girls.
By the time the group flew back to Sydney the next day, they owned the horse, and to make it even better, she was named Pop The Bubbles!
A very close second at her Australian debut at Bathurst the previous Wednesday saw the four-year-old come in for strong support this week, and Steve Turnbull took full advantage of a favorable inside draw to lead throughout in the CO/C1 sprint that closed the Bathurst proceedings.
There was never any doubt how the excited owners would celebrate the win, raising glasses of bubbly back in the clubhouse, in confirmation that the ownership caper was every bit as good as people said it was.
The win completed a good night for the stable, which finished with three winners. Steve drove a double which began with Shandance in the C2 Club Menangle Country Series Heat, and Mitchell supplied the other win with the ‘death seat’ effort of Grosestar in the CO Where Horses Fly Heat.
Robbie Morris and Dance For Glory scored a strong win in the fast class sprint, working early to find the death seat and applying plenty of pressure to the leader Thunder Dance , which broke on the home turn, leaving Dance For Glory well clear turning in. The winner was well down in grade from his recent Menangle runs and won accordingly.
Mat Rue took a driving double for father-in-law Bernie Hewitt – a gutsy all the way win with Trunkey Digger in a CO sprint, after blistering early sections, and an equally tough win from the death seat, with Lady Swiss in the three-year-old class, for her second win in succession in this grade.
Racecaller, Fred Hastings gave his Drive of the Night award to Tom Pay, aboard Havana Moon, for Gemma Rue, in a C1 sprint.
Tom bided his time at the back end of the field during the early stages, bringing Havana Moon into the race at the turn and busting clear over the closing stages. With Penrith Rugby League supremo, Phil Gould a part-owner of the winner, and driver Tom Pay being a nephew of Canterbury Bulldogs coach Dean Pay, there was a real football feel to the race. Quite appropriate for September.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
