CRIM cruised home from back in the field to snatch a short-half-head win at Tamworth on Friday.
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The Coonamble mare, a six-year-old daughter of Time Thief, is prepared by Ian Holland and was coming off a last-start win over 1410m at Wellington.
At Tamworth, she won the $22,000 Cool Blue Ice Benchmark 74 Handicap (1400m).
It was her fifth win for her owners, the Kennedy family, and certainly not her last - if her final 400m was any indication.
Jockey Chris O'Brien had hoped to have her up closer to the lead than where she found herself after dwelling at the start.
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Holland thought she might have given up too much ground early but with good pace in the race he thought she finished off well.
"I didn't want to be that far back but she does wind up well," he said. "She's been a good mare for me, been consistent."
Keeping her on the fresh side has been his aim but just where he heads next with the horse is unknown.
"She's getting up in the bench now," he said.
"I had nominated her at Narromine as well but she got 60.5kg there. Only had 56.5kg here - that's why we came here.
"She's run a few placings here, too, and only got beaten a lip here one day too."
He said her benchmark rating could force him to look south to Sydney or the provincials.
In race six, True Finesse appreciated the drop in distance when the Scone mare returned to the winners list. The daughter of Fighting Sun was always well positioned by Daniel Northey and finished strongly to win the $22,000 Shay Brennan Constructions Class 2 Handicap (1600m) by three quarters of a length from the Troy O'Neile-trained Capitulate.
Another Tamworth-trained mare, Olivia's Girl, finished third for her trainer, Sue Grills, beaten one-and-a-half lengths. "It was a good win," Northey said.
The four-year-old chestnut mare has now won three of her 12 starts for trainer Rod Northam.
"It was a really good win today [Friday]," Northam said. "We did try her out over the 2400m but [she] didn't run the trip out.
"Back to a mile, she was much better and Daniel is such an underrated rider. He does a lot for us."
Northey was hoping to have more success at Tamworth on Friday. "Hopefully we can pick another win in the next," he said.
His mount, five-year-old mare Lope De Mango, finished 11th. The Luke Morgan-trained Fussdinado (Ben Looker) won.
