Kid Montana wins in his first start at Tamworth Paceway since August

The Tamworth Harness Racing Club held a meeting at the Tamworth Paceway last night which was attended by five local pacers.

One of those was victorious, while another two placed second or third.

Kid Montana made his first start at the Tamworth Paceway since being graded too high for races at the venue following three straight wins in July and August last year.

He raced eight times between then and last night, at tracks in Newcastle, Maitland, Dubbo and Albion Park, for two wins and two places.

Last night the five-year-old gelding, owned by Narrabri’s Nathan and Charles Dicks, Peter, Chris and Garry Shepherdson and Neil Drysdale, started one in on the second row in the seventh race of the evening.

That race was the Bevan Douglas pace, run across a 2360-metre distance, which Kid Montana was able to race in due to it being open to horses of a national rating of 120 (the highest rating a pacer can receive).

The 109-rated Kid Montana did not enter the race as the favourite but showed exactly why he should have with a comfortable six-metre victory.

He will return to the Tamworth Paceway next Thursday searching for a fifth straight win at the venue when he competes in the Tamworth Cup race.

In last night’s race Kid Montana and driver Chris Shepherdson sat sixth in the field of eight, about four lengths behind the leader, with two-and-a-half laps left to travel

A quarter of a lap later the duo had moved into second after racing wide around the turn into the straight.

At that stage in the race the $1.35 favourite Takara Truffle was the leader, running on the inside, and when the bell sounded she and Kid Montana were still neck and neck in first and second place respectively.

With 400 metres left to run the Guy Chapple-driven Takara Truffle and Kid Montana had broken away from the rest of the field and were running side-by-side in a battle for the win.

The pair entered the final straight with nothing between them but Kid Montana raced home the fastest to win by six metres.

That victory, which was the Narrabri pacer’s fourth in a row at Tamworth, earned Kid Montana $3,380 in prizemoney which took his season earnings to $22,621 in eight races.

There was another Narrabri-owned-and-trained pacer in action in that race.

Future Fun, trained by Garry Shepherdson for the same group of owners, was driven by Sarah Rushbrook to a third-placed finish.

Future Fun entered the final turn in sixth place and charged into the final straight the widest of all eight pacers, but showed blistering speed down the home straight to finish seven metres back from second-placed Takara Truffle in third place.

Earlier in the meeting the first Shepherdson pacer in action was Capital Cullect.

The six-year-old mare was driven by Chris Shepherdson in race four and started one in from pole position.

She placed second in that race which was run across a 1980-metre distance, finishing six-and-a-half metres behind Manly Boy which was driven by Guy Chapple for Ty Robson.

The main event of the night was the 1980-metre Golden Nugget race which was the sixth on the card.

There was one Narrabri pacer in action in that race which was the Jarred Hetherington-trained Corporal Luna.

Corporal Luna, driven by Joshua Osborn, started one in on the second line in that race and finished in fifth place, 12 metres behind the $2 favourite Royal Gamble which won the race, driven by Jack Callaghan for Mark Callaghan.

In the last race of the evening the Garry Shepherdson-trained, Chris Shepherdson-driven Sumthin Special finished fourth in a field of seven across the 1609-metre distance.

The next meeting at the Tamworth Paceway is scheduled for this Sunday evening and four Narrabri pacers have been named to race throughout the night.