STOP Short finished long and strong to win yesterday’s $27,000 Stacks Law Firm/Woodie Wonder Racing Ron Martin Memorial Maiden (1000m) at Walcha.
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The little family horse, raced by the Hopkins family from Woolgoolga, overcame a wide run to surge home for a three- quarter length win from Little Miss Tee with Young America a neck away third in a race that started an hour late.
The races were thrown into disarray early when Happy Gold slipped its bridle and escaped off the track.
An issue with drainage along the 1000m chute also forced the club to move the running rail around the affected area.
The Ron Martin Memorial Maiden started an hour late but that didn’t deter Stop Short.
“I was a bit worried when we were three wide around the turn,” trainer Ken Lantry said.
“Especially with the big weight.”
Stop Short carried 60kg topweight and was having his fourth race start.
He had finished second at his three prior starts, runner-up at Coffs Harbour, Taree and Newcastle but was “knocking on the door” Lantry added.
“He’s been very good,” he said. “There’s nothing of him but he never gives up.
“His last start at Newcastle he had 59 and was headed twice down the running and just got rolled.”
Lantry prepares him for the Hopkins family and most of that family syndicate were on course yesterday.
Darren Hopkins said the Maiden win was a major thrill.
“We’ve only got the two horses, him and the one in the Cup, Got Unders.
“He’s a great little horse.
“Look at him – there’s nothing of him.”
Military broke through for his first win at Walcha yesterday but might be headed to the spelling paddock.
The four-year-old gelding was having his sixth start yesterday and made Greg Ryan earn his wages.
“He’s a big dumb bloke,” the Dubbo-based jockey told Sue Grills’s sons Todd and Andy Grills while their mum completed Sky Thoroughbred Central media commitments.
“When he hit the front he wanted to stop dead, turn around and go home.
“He’s got a lot to learn.”
He thought a spell might be good for him while Sue Grills had already decided she’d turn him out, win, lose or draw.
Grills also made it a double later in the day when Melanie Bolwell snared her first winning ride aboard Flight In Space.
Bolwell, 21, had her first race at Quirindi in December but raced to her initial success with great aplomb.
Ben Looker and Allan Kehoe combined to win the $25,000 Graziers Cup Class 2 Handicap (1000m) with Red Duck Quack.
The three-year-old filly railed brilliantly for Looker to win one of the feature races of the day for Walcha owner John Usher.
Originally from Walgett, Usher has called Walcha home until recently when he bought the Belltower Cafe in Tamworth.