Harness racing made a triumphant return to Narrabri on Sunday when the Narrabri Harness Racing Club hosted its first of two April meetings at the Narrabri Showground.
There were seven races held across the afternoon, the first of which was the Tapscott Service Station and Camstart Pharmacy Pace run across 1760 metres at 12.54pm.
The Chris Sutherland-trained Bellrivergirl took out that race as Blake Medlyn drove the seven-year-old mare to victory for the Manilla trainer after they started the race from pole position.
They established an early lead and remained in front for the remainder of the race, and they never looked like being beaten after storming into the final straight.
It was only ever a battle for second place, and that was taken out by Narrabri pacer Lookat Mee as Chris Shepherdson drove the seven-year-old mare within eight metres of a hometown victory.
“She’s a very honest horse. She tries her heart out,” Shepherdson said.
“Given a bit of luck she’s always there and there abouts.
“We had a pretty hard run. We had to sit outside the leader for the whole race, but she boxed on well to the line. She ran well.”
The second race was the 1760-metre Luke McGrath Farrier Service John and Beryl Dean Memorial Prelude, which saw Warral trainer/driver Tom Ison secure his first winner of the day as he drove his five-year-old mare Cinnamon to victory.
Medlyn came close to making it back-to-back wins but he was forced to settle for second place after driving Yarraman Tilly to within two metres of the winner for James Sutton.
All attention then turned to race three, which was the Western Namoi Vet Services and Gordon Roadways Santos Cup heat one.
It was Caitlin McElhinney who drive the winner in that 2160-metre race as the Jamie Donovan-trained Rainbow Jet claimed the victory following an exciting finish that saw the next four pacers finish within two metres of one another.
Shepherdson drove Narrabri gelding Im Belieber to a fourth-place finish in that race as the duo ran home five metres behind the winner to qualify for the final.
“It was really good to get through to the final. It’s always really good to represent Narrabri in a final at our own occasion,” Shepherdson said.
“The horse ran well, but he did a few things wrong like galloping early in the run. He lost about 15 to 20 metres and only ended up getting beat by four or five metres, so it’s probably a bit of a hard luck story.
“He ran well and hopefully a bit of luck can go his way in the final.”
Shepherdson had another drive in the fourth race of the day, which was the 1760-metre C and D Electronics and Max Orman Toyota Pace, and he was onboard Jeremy Lou following the six-year-old gelding’s win less than two weeks earlier in Tamworth.
They ended up finishing last in the field of six as McElhinney claimed her second win on the trot, this time for Rachel Donovan as Seven Rippin Aces got the job done by just one-and-a-half metres ahead of the Joanne Forrest-trained, Sam Ison-driven Johnny Dee.
“The horse ran well coming off a last-start win, but he got held up and got a check off another horse and got out of his gear,” Shepherdson said of Jeremy Lou.
“If he didn’t get checked, we were pretty confident he would have gone close to winning.”
McElhinney was looking for her third straight win in race five as she drove the favourite for Jamie Donovan in the 1760-metre Watsons Kitchen and Richards Steelyard Metaland Pace.
However, they were forced to settle for second as the Anthony Missen-trained, Sarah Rushbrook-driven Gotonebettor stormed home to a two-metre victory.
Race six saw more pacers qualify for the Santos Cup after securing top-five finishes in the 2160-metre GCJ Glass and Aluminium and J & H Windscreens heat two.
The Sam Ison-trained-and-driven Cut Glass took out that one, beating out the Tom Ison-trained-and-driven Grosestar by four-and-a-half metres.
The seventh and final race of the day saw Tom Ison drive Arnies Army to a 2160-metre track record as the nine-year-old won the 2160-metre Daisy’s Water Carrier Peter and Raymond Shepherdson Memorial race with a mile rate of 1:58.5 (click here for more on that race).
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