2 September 2021
We've had a little bit of everything on the track this week with plenty of major highlights. It's all wrapped up for you in this week's edition of The Final Quarter
Castles In the Sky
Charlie Castles put together a serious run of consistency through the final week of August. He put his horses in the money with a top three finish in each of his last eight drives, including a couple at some rather juicy odds. He had winners at Goulburn, Wagga and Young, with four winners, two seconds and two thirds. He’s got bookings again tomorrow night at Wagga, so astute punters may want to keep an eye out for Charlie’s drives.
WATCH CHARLIE CASTLES DRIVE JUST RALPH TO VICTORY
Well Played Deano
There was a magic moment at Tamworth on Thursday afternoon as local legend Dean Chapple brought up his 700th career win. After racing to 699, so to speak, Deano hit a few hurdles over the final stages of that journey, but that only added to the moment when it arrived in the fourth on the program. To make this one even sweeter, it came on former Western Districts pacer Lasseter Shannon, who was on debut for the Chapple stable and having his first start since November last year. Dean and wife Julie purchased the horse initially for their son Jack to acquire his reins licence with. So in celebrating his own achievement, Dean has been sure to give the young bloke the kudos for getting Lasseter Shannon race ready for this milestone. A truly family occasion!
WATCH DEAN CHAPPLE GET WIN 700 WITH LASSETER SHANNON
Tamworth Young Guns
It could be said Dean would have hit the 700 mark much sooner if it wasn’t for the emergence of a couple of young talents who continue to make giant strides in the North-West. We got an exhibition of that in Tamworth on Thursday when Jemma Coney drove a treble for her Father Greg, including a race to race double to launch the program. Not be outdone, premiership leader Tom Ison bagged a hat-trick of his own, including victories in the last two races on the card with Balboa Shannon and veteran Rolamax.
WATCH JEMMA CONEY WIN ON INFORMALITY
Amazing Grace
Grace Panella got her night off to a great start at Newcastle on Friday winning with Our Chance Todream in the first and backing that up with Johnson Step in the third for an early driving double. They were two super impressive drives from one of the most exciting young talents coming through the ranks.
SEE GRACE PANELLA WIN WITH JOHNSON STEP AT NEWCASTLE
Elder Respect
It looked like it might have been a rare lean outing for Brad Elder but after opening his account in race five he went on to win three from four to land a treble for the evening. Among them was the eye-catching Flare Up which won by 10 metres and laid down a marker ahead of the upcoming Breeders Challenge Series. Definitely one to watch.
SEE BRAD ELDER BRING UP A TREBLE AT NEWCASTLE
American Beauty
It was wonderful to see trainer/ driver Renae Brooks land a winner at Newcastle on Monday with her beloved American Kestrel. It was just his second win for Renae since she took him in three years ago, but that’s now two wins in the past three months. Punters who kept the faith got some reward for their effort too with American Kestrel landing at $31.
WATCH AMERICAN KESTREL WIN AT NEWCASTLE
Stacie on the Verge of a Ton
And still on Newcastle, a special mention for Stacie Elliott who had 24 runners across the two meetings there during the week. In fact in the third on the program on Monday, she had seven of the 10 runners in the field. Unfortunately there were no winners among them though as she needs just one more to bring up 100 career victories. She came close in race nine on Friday when Classic Arc ran second and she had four third placings among them. No doubt the elusive ton is just around the corner!
STACIE ELLIOTT HAS 7 RUNNERS IN RACE 2 AT NEWCASTLE
Cupid Intervenes in Newcastle
The Woodlands Stud Lather Up Series for mares held at Wagga, Bathurst and Newcastle last week was a resounding success and there was perhaps an air of inevitability when our winner emerged. With the fastest winner from the series earning a service from the world’s fastest Standardbred Lather Up, the irony of Greg Brown’s Waiting For Love winning the prize wasn’t lost on racing’s romantics, as Cupid’s arrow zeroed in on Newcastle.
SEE WAITING FOR LOVE WIN THE WOODLANDS STUD LATHER UP SERIES
Why the Long Face?
The Newcastle club continued its “Friday Night Trots at Home” promo and again the Hunter region brought the creativity. We had to laugh at this entry from Michael & Evan Nolan who couldn’t be trackside so they set up the next best thing - on the carpet by the telly with their very own TAB operator! Hope he had some water nearby though. He was looking a bit hoarse!
Jumping Jack Flash
The star of young driver Jack Callaghan continues to rise and he gave a stunning exhibition of his talents at Menangle on Tuesday when he drove four winners for four different trainers. It’s a fair indication of the esteem Jack is held in among the metropolitan driving ranks that trainers continue to book his services when he is available.
SEE JACK CALLAGHAN WIN WITH HAS THE COURAGE AT MENANGLE
The Raconteur
They ran some quick times at Menangle on Tuesday too. In stark contrast to last week’s driving rain, David Wonson summoned sunshine and lollipops at headquarters and served up a hard and fast surface. The slickest of those came in the penultimate race on the program when The Raconteur sat patiently before doing his best work late and exploding past Spock to run a 1:51:4. Jack Trainor’s Rocket Boy wasn’t much slower in the last of the day, leading all the way to win in 1:52:6 for Jack Brown.
WATCH THE RACONTEUR WIN AT MENANGLE
The Hammer Drops
The challengers are really starting to throw down the gauntlet to Rickie Alchin’s star trotter Tough Monarch as we look ahead to the Inter Dominion series. After running the quinella last week, Darren Hancock’s Drop the Hammer reversed the result on Tough Monarch on Saturday night. They might both have to beat Belinda McCarthy’s import Aldebaran Revani though. She continued to impress with yet another win at Menangle on Tuesday, winning by 17 metres in 1:53:9.
SEE DROP THE HAMMER BEAT TOUGH MONARCH AT MENANGLE
Harness Breeders NSW
Breeding season is upon us and of course the Breeders Challenge Series gets underway next week. So this week on Pacesetters we caught up with the President of Harness Breeders NSW. It's well worth a viewing!
TO WATCH PACESETTERS WITH FLORA ROBSON CLICK HERE
Two for Rue
With the quality of racing going on across the state it’s a good effort just to jag a winner these days. But trainer Greg Rue did even better than that at Bathurst last night, scoring the quinella in the first on the program with odds-on pop Best Beau and rank outsider Whiskiesonthebeach. To make it even sweeter, his nephew Mat drove the winner and his son Trent did the steering on the runner-up.
GREG RUE LANDS THE QUINELLA AT BATHURST
It’s Easy Being Green
It was a memorable night at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Saturday for Lleyton Green who drove his first metropolitan double. He’s struck up a great partnership with the Dean and Kerry McDowell stable, steering both Major Obahma and Zanadu to wins.
LLEYTON GREEN WINS ON MAJOR OBAHMA
Anzac Sprit
New Zealand import Spirit of Anzac maintained his unbeaten record in Australia when claiming the Group 3 feature on the card – the McWicked Richest Pacing Stallion August Gift Final. It secured a training double for Jack Trainor after also winning with Platinum Revolution, driven by Ash Hart.
SEE SPIRIT OF ANZAC WIN AT MENANGLE
Hart Hits the Lead
The race for the New South Wales Drivers Premiership is well and truly on with Cameron Hart edging past Jack Trainor with a winning double at Penrith on Thursday. He drew level with the boom youngster My Ultimate Byron who many believe is the best two-year-old in Australia. Look out for him in the Breeders Challenge Series which starts next week!
SEE MY ULTIMATE BYRON WIN AT PENRITH
Corey Off the Mark
You can’t say we don’t roll out the welcome mat here in New South Wales! Especially when it comes to West Aussies! Former WA trainer Corey Peterson trained his first winner in NSW at Penrith when Chris Geary drove Luke John to victory. The first of many winners here in NSW for Corey no doubt!
SEE LUKE JOHN WIN AT PENRITH
Turnbull Turns It On Again
Even by her own lofty standards, Amanda Turnbull is in the middle of a golden run at Bathurst. With racing there on Friday and last night as well, she had five winners as a driver and five as a trainer.
AMANDA TURNBULL WINS WITH LYRICAL GENIUS
Luckless Runner of the Week
Junee based trainer/driver Bruce Harpley has been a leading light in the Riverina for over three decades, sitting behind some of the best horses to ever come from the area. At the present time Bruce probably doesn’t have the superstars that he has had in previous years but he is campaigning a consistent team of pacers. At Young on Tuesday night he went home a winner, taking out the two-year-old race on the card with the highly promising Macarena Madi. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing on the night for Harpley when another of his hopes Well Said Harps had a run to forget and goes down as our Luckless Runner of the Week. After settling just in behind the speed three back on the pegs, Harpley played for luck and used all of his finesse to find gaps in running approaching the home turn, where he had navigated back towards the inside of beaten runners. But from there, things didn’t go to plan and with the runs closing up quicker than he could take them, Bruce was left searching with a lap full of horse having to settle for fourth place and hoping for better luck next time.
SEE OUR LUCKLESS RUNNER OF THE WEEK IN ACTION AT YOUNG
Drive of the Week
Mr 1600 Robbie Morris showed us on Tuesday afternoon why he is widely regarded as one of the best drivers in Oz when he landed the cash on former Kiwi mare What’s Your Secret for wife Kerryann at Tabcorp Park Menangle. Drawn out on the track in gate six and with plenty of speed off the mobile drawn around him, Morris had no other option but to take a snag off the arm and found himself back near the tail of the field. After a quick first quarter and a muddling middle section to the race, supporters of What’s Your Secret would have found themselves in two minds when the field thundered for home and their runner still a good 15 metres off the leaders. But when you have the man that would know every inch of the 400 metre straight in the cart you are never in trouble and Robbie proved his wares, timing his run to get the well-bred filly home by a half head margin in a mile rating of 1:54.4.
SEE ROBBIE MORRIS WITH THIS WEEK'S DRIVE OF THE WEEK
MD’s Trial File
This week’s trial file comes up with the excitement machine from Maitland Chappy Streetnorth who smashed the clock at the Maitland trials going back 10 days ago now and is set for a first up assignment at Newcastle this Friday night. Still only a two-year-old, the son of John Street North carved out some wicked fractions to set up a mile rating of 1:56.8 for the 1680 metre trip and running a last half in 55.2 seconds. THESE SORTS OF TIMES ARE UNHEARD OFF FOR A TWO YEAR OLD! Already a winner of two from two, one would think he would only have to reproduce something similar and he will be just winning for Trainer/ Driver Mitch Chapple.
Big Bets
BATHURST 25/8
BANG
$7,000 @ $1.35 on Miss Lemon
OUCH
$2,500 @ $2 on Lilly Shannon
PENRITH 26/8
BANG
$7,000 @ $1.15 on My Ultimate Byron
OUCH
$1,500 @ 41.70 on Louisiana Freedom
TAMWORTH 26/8
BANG
$1,000 @ $2 on Rolamax
OUCH
$1,500 @ $3.70 on Cronin
WAGGA 27/8
BANG
$1,000 @ $2.50 on Seamark
OUCH
$1,000 @ #2.30 on Captain Dan
MENANGLE
BANG
$2,300 @ $2.30 on Major Obahma
OUCH
$1,000 @ $4.20 on Cherishthememories