Tamworth @ Armidale. That is what the next four harness meetings conducted by the Tamworth Harness Racing Club will be known as after Tamworth meetings were transferred to Armidale Paceway.
The first meeting is Thursday afternoon.
Harness Racing NSW has commenced their upgrade to the race-day stabling area and officials pod at Paceway Tamworth. And to make it a smooth operation for all parties, four Tamworth race meetings have been transferred to Armidale for October and November.
Reinswoman Madi Young, who has just made the move from Sydney back home to family in Tamworth, has five drives on the seven-event card on Thursday afternoon.
“I think I have a couple of place chances,” he said. “But my favourite for the day is Keayang Sponge Bob. If he does everything right, he is my pick for the day.”
Keayang Sponge Bob, trained at Tamworth by Greg Coney, has drawn the one barrier in the $10,000 Uralla Vet Clinic Club Menangle Where Horses Fly Heat.
Young has four drives for Coney, her stepfather – the others being Our Chance To Dream in the Les Enks-Armidale Track Curator Appreciation Pace, Dashing Hannah in the Peter Jackson Bookmaker-Membership Draw Pace and Give Me Fifty in the $10,000 Portable Horse Stables Club Menangle Country Series Heat.
The opening event for the day – the TAB Rewards Pace – will see Young take an outside drive for Inverell trainer Julie Hobday, behind Star Of Wonder.
“Julie has been good to me,” Young said. “I don’t normally get outside drives so I will take them when they come. Julie’s team is going well.”
Young deserves at least one win after a weekend of seconds.
Last Saturday night saw Young come close to her first Menangle win when she drove the Shane Sanderson-trained Murano, who was beaten by a neck by the Dean Cernovskis-trained-and-driven Lucky Voodoo, in the opening event.
Young then made the trip up the highway to contest the ninth race on the card at Newcastle behind Queens Angel, who was beaten on the line by Buyers Market (Rickie Alchin).
“Menangle went really good,” Young said. “That is the closest I have been to driving a winner at Menangle. I got to Newcastle just in time for the race – two seconds in one night at two meetings is better than nothing.”
After Newcastle, Young drove home to Tamworth for a bit of a spell with family, before heading out to Eugowra to contest the Canola Cup meeting on Monday.
Once again it was another second when she took the reins behind the Rodney Lemon-trained Alabama Tyson, who finished behind Royal Story (Bernie Hewitt) in the Agnvet Services Club Menangle Country Series Heat.
“The second at Eugowra gets me another drive at Menangle in the final on Fishers Ghost race day,” she said. “And then if Keyang Sponge Bob or Give Me Fifty wins at Armidale, I will have another drive at Menangle.”
