Clement had two with the Armidale trainers' Jade finishing on strongly to narrowly be beaten by the Tracey Bartley-trained Senseiche in the Good Luck Ice In Vancouver Handicap (1200m).

In what was an exciting start the day's racing, it went to a photo to decide the minor placings with Jade, Morgan's Sapello and Allan Denham's Three Times Lucky appearing to hit the line together just a long neck behind Senseiche.

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Five races later Clement's Red Beryl was a length second to Jay Hopkins' Yulong Monoceros with Craig Martin's Ellebeedee third.

Inbetween Morgan's Keep Me Loyal was a half length second behind Tim McIntosh's Discompose in the Melbourne Cup Day Packages on Sale Tuesday Maiden Plate.

The Tamworth trainer had four runners in the race and also filled fourth, sixth and seventh.

O'Neile's Lord Tony was then second in the Carlton Dry Open Handicap after battling with eventual winner Miss Powerbelle (Cameron Crockett) for much of the 1000m journey, Shane Edmunds' (Inverell) Marokawa flashing home for third.

Tamworth trainer Theresa Stair's Belbaroo was third in the Civilcon Class 1 & Maiden Plate while Nathaniel Scott's (Inverell) Sapphire Step was third in the final race of the day - the Courthouse Hotel Tamworth Class 3 Handicap.

It was won by the Rod Northam-trained and Grant Buckley-ridden Joey's Chance, the victory giving Buckley a treble for the day.

The Scone trainer admitted to Thoroughbred Central post-race he has a bit of a soft spot for the six-year old, who was coming off three consecutive thirds.

"He's a funny horse to train, we don't do much with him, we do a lot of swimming and he doesn't like being ridden too much," he sad

"We just keep him nice and fresh and when he gets everything going his way he's hard to beat."

He said Buckley "rode him perfectly", waiting for the right time to pounce on leader Raoul (Cameron Crockett) and getting home by half-a-length.

The meeting was the first patrons have been able to be on course for for months.

Only fully vaccinated racegoers were permitted to attend and there were strict COVID-segregation protocols with separate zones for essential personnel and patrons.

Despite 25mls of rain overnight the track held up well being upgraded to from a Heavy 9 to a Heavy 8 after the first race (the upgrade was retrospective to include Race 1).

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