Arnies Army secures Narrabri Cup victory with a record-breaking run

Narrabri Harness Racing Club held its annual Narrabri Cup meeting on Sunday afternoon at the Narrabri Showground, where the Tom Ison-trained-and-driven Arnies Army was crowned the 2026 McDonalds Fashions Narrabri Cup champion following a record-breaking run.

At the second of the club’s two meetings, the Tamworth trainer/driver entered the sixth and final race of the day looking to defend the crown that he claimed in 2025 with Ecalera. He was also looking to make it five in a row after taking out races two, three, four and five earlier in the day.

Arnies Army entered the Narrabri Cup as the $1.70 favourite after Ison drove the nine-year-old gelding to a 2160-metre track record victory in the Daisy Water Carrier Peter and Raymond Shepherdson Memorial race on Easter Sunday a week earlier, and they started on the second row behind pole position wearing the number seven in the 2560-metre Cup race.

The defending champ Escalera was driven by Tom’s brother Sam, and they started just outside Arnies Army, wearing the number eight.

The Dean Chapple-trained-and-driven JayJayBenny started widest on the front row in the number six and crossed the three other front row starters to take an early lead as Arnies Army and Escalera settled for fifth and sixth, respectively.

The two Ison-driven pacers still occupied those positions when they went past the finish post for the first of three times, and it was JayJayBenny still out in front at that stage of the race before he maintained his lead when he went past the finish post for the second time as the bell rang to signal that there was one 805-metre circuit left to run.

Escalera was still last with a lap to go, while Arnies Army had moved up into fourth, but the favourite quickly trotted into third place and looked ready to step it up a gear, having done minimal work up until that point.

The Jamie Donovan-trained, Anthony Varga-driven Fast Tracker did manage to go past Arnies Army down the outside with about half a lap left to run, but a cool, calm and collected Tom Ison waited until the final turn to take Arnies Army widest of the six pacers going into the home straight.

The duo straightened up in second place and they managed to charge past JayJayBenny just before the finish post to secure a memorable Narrabri Cup victory, setting a 2560-metre track record in the process as they registered a mile rate of 1:58:7.

JayJayBenny eventually ran home two metres behind the champion, and 14 metres back in a photo finish for third saw the Dwayne Brown-trained, Tanner Brown-driven Last Time Joe edge out fourth-placed Escalera and fifth-placed Fast Tracker.

The Dwayne Brown-trained-and-driven Im Lord Tommy ran home 30 metres behind the winner in last place.

That victory was Ison’s fifth of the day after he had also claimed the Santos Cup for a third year in a row and the John and Beryl Dean Memorial final for the first time.

Chris Shepherdson from the Narrabri Harness Racing Club told The Courier that the Narrabri Cup was an exciting one to watch.

“It was a hotly-contested race that one,” Shepherdson said.

“Dean Chapple led most of the way and ran them along pretty well, but Tommy got out late and flashed home and got up just on the line.

“It was a really good race, for sure.”