Night Lights wins again for Hetherington and Bettor Getta Lover runs a close second place

Jarred Hetherington was all smiles at the Tamworth Paceway last Thursday as he watched five-year-old mare Night Lights race to her fourth victory in five starts in Australia.

Night Lights joined the Hetherington stable back in February and has proved an instant success.

In the second of eight races at a Tamworth Harness Racing meeting on Thursday, Night Lights was driven by Mick Formosa.

Formosa, who drove the New Zealand-bred pacer to her previous three wins in Australia on Easter Monday, April 13, Thursday, April 30, and Sunday, May 17, got the job done again as Night Lights secured a 1.1-metre victory in the 1980-metre Carpet One Tamworth Pace (NR up to 47).

She started as the $2.20 favourite from the number five barrier on the front line and was running sixth as she trotted past the home post for the first time.

With one lap left to run she was three wide in fourth place but quickly moved to the front alongside the Dean Chapple-trained-and-driven Childers Road.

The Narrabri pacer got in front as she approached the final turn and those two pacers battled down the home straight for victory.

Hetherington told The Courier after Night Lights’ third win “they can keep coming at her but she just keeps sticking her head out” and that is exactly what she did on Thursday as she held on to win by less than two metres for the fourth time.

In the fifth race of the afternoon, which was the 1980-metre Multiquip Transport Pace, Formosa drove the Hetherington-trained Bettor Getta Lover to a second-placed finish.

Bettor Getta Lover started on the second line from the number nine barrier.

With about 300 metres to run she had broken away from the rest of the field alongside the Anthony Missen-trained, Blake Hughes-driven I’m So Better.

The pair battled down the final straight but it was I’m So Better which claimed a 1.2-metre win as Bettor Getta Lover and Hetherington were forced to settle for second.

That result was Bettor Getta Lover’s fifth top-three finish in eight starts since her first race for Hetherington which was a win in Armidale in February.

The next meeting scheduled to run at the Tamworth Paceway is on Sunday, June 14.