Hetherington stable claims the John and Beryl Dean Memorial Final at Narrabri meeting

There are race wins, and then there are moments that mean more than the prize money or the trophy. For Narrabri harness racing trainer Jarred Hetherington, Sunday’s triumph in the John and Beryl Dean Memorial Final at the Narrabri Showground was one of those moments.

Hetherington ticked off a career ambition of winning the race named in honour of two local harness racing legends, who helped shape his love for the sport.

Even though the Santos Cup Final and the Narrabri Cup were also up for grabs on the day, this was the race that the 48-year-old Narrabri man most wanted to win.

Driven by Tamworth reinsman Anthony Varga, Limousine Tommy stormed home across 1760 metres to claim a memorable victory, just as he did in the heat to qualify during Narrabri Harness Racing Club’s first meeting of the year back in April.

The three-year-old gelding started from the number four barrier as the final’s favourite and he showed his class as he charged out to lead early and was rarely troubled on the way home.

Tommy, as the pacer is known around the local stables, was bred and is owned by Hetherington’s parents Wayne and Laurel, which the trainer said made Sunday’s victory all the more sweeter.

“It was really special to win that one because dad was very close friends with John and Beryl Dean, so to win their memorial race was really nice. I’ve never seen dad like that before,” Hetherington said.

“John and Beryl were from Narrabri. John was the president of the Narrabri Harness Racing Club for many years, and they were both great harness racing people. I remember them back in the day, seeing them with their horses. I thought they were great people.

“It’s an honour to win it.

“We’ve been trying to win that race for years, and we’ve had the horses for it, but we’ve run seconds and thirds and couldn’t quite nail it. We knew we had the right horse this year and we saved him for it.. We took him to Newcastle last week to get him nice and ready, and he actually went a bit better there than I thought he would’ve there, so we knew what we had for that race.

“The plan was to get to the front and stay there, but we thought he would just lead for fun. He put in a couple of bobbles and a wrong one at the start, so Anthony had to check him and grab hold of him a little bit, which allowed one of the other horses to cross. Once that happened, Anthony was able to release the brakes and roll to the front.

“He’s got a motor on him. He’s a green little baby with a good future ahead of him. He’s only three and we call him a baby because he has no idea about racing. Everything he’s doing now is just on natural ability.

“He’s going to go for a spell now for three to six months and then we’ll bring him back in.”

Another Hetherington pacer made it a memorable quinella in the final as Lola Weidemann drove Dancin With Lush to second place in the John and Beryl Dean Memorial race, which was the fourth on the seven-race card.

Limousine Tommy was expected to charge out to lead from the start but it was the Dean Ingold-trained, Andrew Bourke-driven Bettathanmozarella that did so as he started quickest from the five barrier before crossing and going to the pegs. Limousine Tommy was forced to go around the first turn three wide after a few missteps from the start, and Varga then released the brakes and allowed the Narrabri pacer to showcase his dominance and charge out to the lead down the back straight.

He still led when the bell sounded to signal that there was one 805-metre lap to run, with Bettathanmozarella behind him and the Michael Osborn-trained, Jemma Coney-driven Reasonably Sweet beside him.

Those two horses were unable to maintain the pace with Limousine Tommy, and with 400 metres to run it was stablemates Dancin With Lush and the Sam Ison-driven Betabro that had stepped up to challenge him for the win.

Limousine Tommy entered the final straight with a comfortable lead and his only real challenger was Dancin With Lush, but he stormed home to win by six metres to claim the cup.

“The little mare tried her guts out, but she just couldn’t quite get Tommy,” Hetherington said.

Hetherington went close to winning the Santos Cup and the Narrabri Cup as well, with three of his pacers placing in those two races, and he told The Courier that it was a successful day for his stable.

“It was a great day all-round. Full credit to the committee for putting the work and time and effort in to get the second meeting up and done,” Hetherington said.

“If things went our way, we could have gotten a few more winners, but we got the one we really wanted.”

The Santos Cup final was the fifth race of the day and was run across 2160 metres. Hetherington’s Rippin Rupert was driven by Varga and his stablemate Limousine Cheeky was driven by Weideman. They started alongside one another behind pole position on the second row.

The Michael Osborn-trained, Andrew Bourke-driven Justawarrior was first when the bell sounded and Limousine Cheeky was just outside him, with the Garry Shepherdson-trained, Chris Shepherdson-driven fellow Narrabri pacer Lookat Mee running third.

Rippin Rupert was sitting sixth at that stage and he still occupied that position with about 400 metres left to run before taking off and showing his motor as he charged out to lead in a matter of seconds.

The Tom Ison-trained-and-driven Annie Crocker piggy-backed her way into second to join Rippin Rupert as the frontrunners for the cup down the final straight, and just when it looked like the Narrabri pacer was going to make it a cup double for Hetherington, Annie Crocker got her nose in front to win the race in a photo finish.

Limousine Cheeky also finished on the podium as she charged home to place third.

“That was a good race with a good finish, and it was nice to get second and third, but we were probably a little bit disappointed with Rippin Rupert,” Hetherington said.

“He just didn’t perform how we expected him to. He was well below himself.

“We came across a few problems with him, and we’ll play with them and get him ready to go again.”

The 2560-metre Narrabri Cup was the seventh and final race of the day, in which the Hetherington-trained Rock Fisherman raced in front of a supportive home crowd.

The TAB Regional Championship Hunter champion raced to a third-place finish, with Ison securing a cup double as he drove nine-year-old gelding Escalera to victory.

The Lisa McDonald-trained, Anthony Varga-driven defending champion and race favourite Master Catch placed second by a neck, with Rock Fisherman storming home just two metres behind the winner.

“We probably left our run too late,” Hetherington said.

“We needed to get going halfway up the back straight and really turn it on there. It was Sam’s first drive on him.

“We’re happy to run third. Master Catcher has run in Inter Dominions and races like that, so to get that close to Master Catcher made us happy.”

The victory was Ison’s fourth of the afternoon after he had driven Eifell From Heaven to a win in the first race of the day. That was the 1760-metre Logan and Co Furniture and Bi Rite pace, in which Three Parts Grey and Sweet Sunshine ran home fifth and sixth for the Shepherdsons.

Race two was the 1760-metre McDonalds Fashions and Specialised Civil Services pace, which was won by the Chris Sutherland-trained, Courtney Sutherland-driven Uncle Gregory, who crossed the line first in a photo finish with Ison’s Safe Jewels.

Hetherington’s Frozen Jewel was driven by Varga to a fifth-place finish in that race and Chris Shepherdson drove the Weidemann-trained Rocco Variety to sixth.

Race three was the Watsons Kitchen and C & D Electronics pace, which was also run across 1760 metres and was won by the Rachel Donovan-trained, Caitlin McElhinney-driven Seven Rippin Aces in another photo finish from the Neil Kliendienst-trained, Anthony Varga-driven Rolamax.

The Garry Shepherdson-trained, Chris Shepherdson-driven Marksman finished last in an eight-horse field.

Limousine Tommy and Annie Crocker then won the first two cup races in races four and five before Ison claimed race six with the Dwayne Brown-trained Smolenski. There were no Narrabri pacers in race six, which was the 2160-metre Tapscott Service Station/Bell and Johnson Solicitors pace.

Ison then made it three wins on the trot and four for the day when he took out the Narrabri Cup with Escalera.