Trained by Richard Williams, the grey gelding made his way into the final after finishing second to Ultra Bliss (Peter Hedges) in the sixth heat of the series last week at Newcastle, with the race conducted over 2030m and the mile rate 1min 56.0sec.

Read also:

In the final, All Whitey Then will come up against the likes of Tamworth Golden Guitar winner The Choreographer (Robbie Morris) from the Geoff Harding stables.

In-form reinsman Tom Ison will take the reins behind All Whitey Then and will commence from the two barrier, with the winner heading to Menangle for the $100,000 TAB Regional Championships Super Final on May 29 .

Williams has been having a great campaign in the regional series, with All Whitey Then's stablemate Everything Happens scoring the one barrier in the $14,000 TAB Regional Championships - Hunter Consolation at Newcastle on Friday.

The Williams-trained A Good Ideal (Tom Ison) and Ark (Jack Gallagher) will contest the Club Menangle Country Series Heat at the Newcastle meeting.

Good luck to the Williams stable and their family-owned All Whitey Then as they take up the challenge in their first Group 1 race.

+++

The Armidale meeting last Sunday saw a new track record set, while the judge worked overtime - with five of the race finishes separated by a head margin.

Armidale trainer Les Enks has gained entry into the Gig Final at the May 30 Armidale meeting, with two from his stable - Groovy Shannon (Anthony Varga) and Neville Shannon (Dean Chapple) - taking out their respective heats.

The Tony Missen-trained My Kinda Justus won the second heat with a mile rate of 1.59.0. The horse is raced by his wife Joy and their son Daniel, of 88.9 FM fame.

"She raced pretty tough and still got home pretty good," Hughes said. "She likes to bowl along a bit so it wasn't too bad."

There was excitement-plus for Gunnedah owners Rob and Nerylee Durrant when Attahua Ace won the final heat with a mile rate of 1.59.2. The horse is trained and driven by Scotty-Jon Welsh.

"He goes really nice this horse," Welsh said, adding that My Kinda Justus "has been ultra-consistent for us and just needs to draw the right gate".

"Good to see success with this horse for Rob and Nerylee," he said. "They spent a lot of time on the horse before they offered me the opportunity [with him] - and now he is going super for them."

"It will be very competitive final for sure," he added.

+++

Accolades are also flowing for Armidale track curator Les Enks for a job well done, with the winners of six of the eight races on Sunday finishing in under two minutes.

The Narrator set a new track record, with a mile rate of 1.55.8 for 1609m. The horse is trained at Tamworth by Tony Missen and was driven by Blake Hughes.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: