Tamworth trainer Brendan James ticked an item off his "bucket list" after he provided a winning drive to his father Rodney.
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James had two runners in the Congratulations Hedges Avenue Pace, Nice One Jon (Murray Sullivan) and Shakeitup at last Friday night's Tamworth harness meeting.
"Brendan had a double up in the race and I was coming up from Newcastle anyway, so he said pack your gear" Rodney James said after the win.
"The last drive I had in a race was in February last year at Newcastle and my last winner would have been behind The Brazen Head at Newcastle.
"I won on him and I'm saying that would be about five or six years ago."
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Rodney James had his last winning drive in January 2014 with The Brazen Head, who won with a mile rate of 1.56.7 for 1609 metres at Newcastle.
For son Brendan, it was certainly a win-win situation with the steely grey coloured Shakeitup having his first start for the stable.
"I couldn't be happier with the win - I only put Dad on the slow one," Brendan said.
"It was on the bucket list to put him [Dad] on one of my horses that I trained and I guess that just ticked another one off that he won the race.
"A syndicate at work, [Kudos Tiling] owns the horse and it was the best the horse has ever gone."
Tamworth trainer Ernie Mabbott and son Anthony also have a share in the syndicate, with Shakeitup winning the race named in honour of their mare Hedges Avenue.
"Dad knew he was on the worst of my two runners, but he managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat," Brendan said.
For Rodney James it was not only his first drive in a race for close to two years, but also the first time he's taken the reins behind Shakeitup.
"The last time I had 15 months off I won first up too," Rodney said.
"He [Shakeitup] didn't handle it around the last turn, but I just had to wait for the run to come and when the split came, I took it.
"The horse gave me no other options but to stay in there and hope for a run and I got the run - we were lucky that we got the split.
"That is the first time I have driven him [Shakeitup].
"He didn't travel on the steel that well but he got the job done". Mammals Destiny [Andrew Bourke] and Layby Lanny [Richard Williams] leading the field, James, who had commenced from the four barrier with Shakeitup, elected to race three back on the inside running line.
"I didn't want to use too much out of the gate," Rodney said.
"Brendan has always wanted to give me back a few winners - he has been at me for a long time to drive for him."
