The healthy crowd at the Parkes Harness Racing Club's Australia Day meeting on Tuesday evening was not disappointed, with cracking editions of the Keith Thomson and Joe Dumesny Memorial races getting spectators on their feet.
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In a fantastic sign for harness racing in the region, five of the seven winners had Parkes drivers on the reins; while three of the winners were trained by stables based right here in the Parkes shire.
The evening kicked off with the Happy Birthday Charlotte Pace, run over 2040 metres, and in a perfect turn of events Charlotte's grandfather Malcolm Hutchings both trained and drove the winner - Caribbean Pat ($3.80).
Showing the quickest gate speed from third on the front row, Hutchings took the Caribbean Blaster x Athletic River mare straight to the lead and from there he was never troubled, finishing a length ahead of Baby Bee Mine ($1.90 fixed place) with the consistent Forbes trained Karinya Jude ($1.45 fixed place) flashing home for third.
It was the mare's second win in a row after getting the chocolates over 1730m in Bathurst on January 15 and she has clearly enjoyed a string of inside gate positions, now winning $20,044 in prizemoney for Hutchings from three wins in 35 career starts.
Canowindra trainer Darryl Fliedner took out the TAB Australia Day Pace with the heavily backed Sailalong Sinbad ($2), who opened at $3 and continued to see support on the back of drawing first on the front row.
In an almost carbon copy of the race prior, Parkes driver Brett Hutchings held his position on the pegs and it was game, set and match from there as the gelding cruised to victory ahead of My Flying Spur ($5 fixed place) and Preachers Daughter ($1.40 fixed place).
The first of the memorial races, honouring the late Keith Thomson, saw experienced Parkes trainer-driver Andrew Cassell put on an absolute clinic as Poppy Franco ($3.60) powered to a dominant 21.4m win, with Cowra horse Uroc N Warrior ($4.40 fixed place) a distant second and Davids Hope ($2.50 fixed place) a further two metres back in third.
The six-year-old We Will See x Ivana Franco mare, who firmed into $3.60 from $5, wasn't the quickest when the arms folded back but Cassell was able to hold his position on the pegs and stayed a length clear of the field before pressing go on the back straight and streaking 30 metres clear.
So far ahead was the mare, race caller Michael Dumesny proclaimed "she's in another postcode!" and no doubt Cassell will be pleased to finally break the maiden after 44 career starts.
It was much tighter in the James Pittar Ambassador Pace with Speed Dial ($9) just managing to reel in Stan Townsend's Good Cop ($1.26 fixed place) in the shadows of the post after the latter had spent most of the race untroubled in the lead.
Pre-race favourite Cambo Blaster was a moral beaten in third ($1.10 fixed place) after finding traffic at crucial times.
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It was already an enthralling meeting, but after the running of the Joe Dumesny Memorial the crowd, stables and race caller all needed to take a collective big breath after Runpoprun ($34), trained by Trundle's Peter Wright, and Linx Downs ($3.70) duked out the finish.
Runpoprun showed the quickest gate speed before surrendering the lead to Nathan Turnbull aboard Linx Downs, with talented young Parkes driver Laura Rusten keeping Runpoprun one out one back.
At the 400 metre mark Rusten looked to have an inside passage but Turnbull shifted in, causing interference.
At the top of the straight Rusten pulled her mount to the outside as Runpoprun and Linx Downs separated themselves from the pack, but Linx Downs had a kick and clung on to be first past the post with Count Montecarlo ($2.40 fixed place) 11.9 metres back in third.
Not content with finishing half a neck behind in second, a protest was lodged on by the connections of Runpoprun, ensuring the stewards would investigate the incident at the 400 metre mark.
After much deliberation the protest was upheld, resulting in raucous cheers from the connections - ensuring a fairytale victory in the three-year-old gelding's first ever career start.
The softly spoken Rusten was typically circumspect post-race but the talented reinswoman continues to show driving maturity well beyond her years and it was a superb result for Wright's only runner of the night.
On the other end of the age spectrum, Bathurst's Gregory Rue cruised to victory aboard Whiskiesonthebeach ($1.95) in the Parkes Leagues Club Pace, a welcome return to form after the gelding looked well off the pace over his past five starts.
The last race for the evening, the Byrne Clothing Pace for horses with a National Rating of up to 47, saw Canowindra trainer Robert Schweickle secure victory with Hardliner ($10); the experienced seven-year-old gelding's 10th win in 135 career starts.
It was a thrilling three-way finish, with Hardliner finishing strongly from three wide to win by a nose over Bruhaha ($1.65 fixed place) and Royal Feeling ($2.40 fixed place), who was first-up after a seven month spell for Forbes trainer Gary Eyre.
Hardliner's victory also completed a double for Brett Hutchings, which took him ahead of Nathan Townsend in the Byrne Clothing Leading Local Driver standings.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions forcing the cancellation of the well-loved yabby races, the Parkes Harness Racing Club put on a fantastic evening of races.
The next meeting in Parkes will be at twilight on Sunday, February 21.
