By Matt Markham
Murray Edmonds went to Addington last night thinking one win from his three chances would be a nice result but left at the end of the night with two winners next to his name and a big smile on his face.
The Motukarara horseman tasted double success in conflicting conditions last night with one win not quite expected, but hoped for, and the other completely from left field.
After a good, consistent, run of form in recent weeks, Fatal Reunion was due a winning turn and she lobbed the trail throughout behind a keen to run Just A Dude everything fell into place.
“She’s managed to pick up a bit of money before she won a race too which is a great result,” Edmonds said.
“Her manners and ability to follow speed should mean she remains competitive up in grade but you never quite know.
“She’s taken a while to come to it, I decided that instead of trekking to the trials I was better off racing her and it took a while to get her up to full fitness.”
A half-sister to Heavyweight Hero, a two-year-old trotter last season who was sold to clients of Todd McFarlane, Fatal Reunion has a little breeding on her side.
She’s closely related to Edmonds very good young trotter of a few years back, Running On Time.
The stable’s second win came courtesy of a bold front running display from Chivasion.
In front of the guidance of Stepehen McNally, the under-rated trotter was allowed to dictate terms in front and never really looked back – with-holding the late challenges of both Kingdom Come and Jean Sebastien.
At odds of close to $28-to-one, the win came as a bit of a shock to punters but not so much Edmonds.
“I’ve always thought he would be alright, but he flipped a palate which put us back a bit.”
A good fifth in her previous start was a pointer towards a return to form.
“He just loves rolling along and doing his own thing and we managed to get that which is the bonus.”
Owned by Sue England, Chivasion is out of Lady Chiola who was a product of the late Carl Middleton.
He’s now won two of his 28 starts and judging by last night’s effort it won’t be his last.
The winning brace for Edmonds gave him first double since Paint The Moon and Danke won at Rangiora in 2012.
“It’s been a while, I know that much,” Edmonds quipped.
Earlier in the night Well Said gained his first New Zealand winner when Afterdinnerspeaker was victorious – giving Ken and Tony Barron their first success as a training partnership in the process.
The son of the well-performed mare, Luckisaladytonight, did it tough throughout, sitting parked in the hands of Ken Barron before grinding his way to victory.
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