Such was the case on Monday night at the Canberra Harness Racing Club when veteran trainer Tom Fahey broke back into the winners circle with his prized gelding Glads Grin.  Trained on the paddock of Tom’s Hawthorn Tree Road property, the 5 year old gelding led throughout to score a tough 1.6 metre win in the $3,000 First Class Accounts Pace.

Driven by Gunning based Rikki Cernovskis, Glads Grin who drew behind gate 1 was quickly away and though challenged strongly at the top of the home straight fought back tenaciously to defeat the Michael Hawke trained Rookie Error and Seashellsinthesand.

Tom was modest in his assessment of the winner, “He went alright, I was hopeful more than sure”.  The Grinfromeartoear gelding was bred by Tom being out of his former handy race mare Merley Perley.  As to the future “I’ll race him until the end of May before putting him away; it’s too cold to keep him going after then” said Tom who is relishing his time in the gig.

Monday night also saw a win for the Allport family who scored with Mezz Hanover.  A 6 year old mare by Brioso Hanover, Mezz Hanover was having her 11th start when she charged home to score in handy fashion.

Driven by Sam Hewitt, Mezz Hanover scored an easy win after starting the punter’s elect at $2.00.  Sitting off the pace, Hewitt came with a well time run to hold out another local in Nelbell who is trained at Laggan by Steven Lee.  

Another local enjoying considerable success is Bigga trainer Dennis Picker.  Dennis took his star mare Just Cala to Victoria and was rewarded with a sterling win in the $20,000 Ian Daff Memorial.  Driven by Amanda Turnbull, Just Cala settled behind the leader where she enjoyed the run of the race before dashing clear along the sprint lane.

“I was unsure what to do with her and Amanda Turnbull suggested bringing her down to Melbourne for a series of mares’ races.  She had a beautiful run and won with ease” said Picker.

Just Cala will now remain in Victoria under the care of Turnbull as she prepares for the Group 1 $100,000 Queen Of The Pacific on the May 23 .

Picker’s metropolitan success continued last Saturday when the ever consistent Condagen took out the $12,000 MacArthur Legacy Pace over 2300 metres.  Settling in the second half of the field, Condagen came with a well-timed run as the $2.40 favourite to score a half neck win over Annie Morva.

“It’s taken him a long time to get back to his best, but I wasn’t surprised by the win” said Picker who is contemplating a return visit to Queensland during the winter.  In the meantime Condagen will go back to Menangle commencing with this coming Sunday when he contests a $21,000 M1 and better pace.

Condagen has now recorded 17 wins and is nearing $200,000 in prize money for his owner Patrick Bourke who also trains horses in his own right at Taralga.  In fact, Pat enjoyed recent success at a Menangle Tuesday meeting when Hard To Hear came with a withering run to take out a $7,000 C1 pace at bolters odds of $71.50

Another local to enjoy success was the Robyn and Ricky Smith owned Tralee Bromac who came with a withering sprint to score in a $12,000 C3 to C5 race at Menangle.  Starting at the good odds of $11.50, Tralee Bromac has been a model of consistency for her happy owners and followed up her recent win with a second in heat 7 of the time honoured Carousel held at Menangle last week.

Tralee Bromac will next race this Sunday when she contests the $50,000 final of the Carousel being held at Menangle Park.  Scheduled as race 5, the Group 2 feature has drawn a stellar field with Tralee Bromac coming out from behind barrier 5.

A number of other wins have been recorded by Crookwell owners including Onlykidding who won three recent races at Canberra and Wagga, Geronimo Beau (Canberra), Hard To Hear (Canberra) and Keilor Misty (Canberra) to name just a few.

Local harness racing will return to Goulburn next Monday (27 April) when the club hosts a ‘C’ front meeting.  With the finish of day light saving, the first race will be about 12.30 pm and the club encourages harness fans to check Monday’s Goulburn Post for all the racing details.