Foolish Kiss will head to Harold Park for a mare’s race after scoring an exciting win in the Neville Peters Memorial Pace at the Dubbo Showground Paceway on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The five-race meeting - complete with bookmakers - proved to be a wonderful advertisement for harness racing being run as part of the three-day Dubbo Show entertainment.
All the talk after the race was about the outstanding performance of Foolish Kiss, owned by Dubbo committeeman David Ford, trained by Michael Pay and driven to perfection by Martin Simmons.
Because of the fall involving Kenny Cruise and Eternal Rock at the end of the back straight the first time, the race rerun was delayed for some considerable time waiting for the ambulance to return to the track.
In the early stages the Ben Settree driven Revamy dictated terms in front with Simmons content to bide his time back in the field.
But after the bell and just into the back straight Simmons set his mare alight and her sprint quickly stamped her as the one to beat, even 400 metres from the finish.
Settree obviously knew he was in for a race when eyeballed by Simmons and by the turn into the home straight the winner was pretty well determined.
Foolish Kiss ($2.60) won officially by 10-1/2 metres from Revamy ($4.20) with Exotic Sheba ($25.20, Brett Hutchings) third, 25m away from the
winner.
Race favourite Imposing Fella ($2.20, Greg Lew) was unplaced.
At the trophy presentations Michael Pay and Ford both expressed their delight in the win and will now head to Harold Park.
“It will be the first time I’ve had a horse race at Harold Park and we couldn’t be more happier with the way she is racing,” Pay said of Foolish Kiss.
On the back of a good win at Dubbo the previous Saturday night, Ford said it was the way she was finishing her races that has pleased him most.
“The good thing about our mare is that she settles well in her races and sprints well, as we saw again here tonight. She is really going well,” Ford said.
“Martin (Simmons) drove a great race on her, and to win the important race (The Neville Peters Memorial) is a great honour.”
Despite missing out with second placed Revamy, Bathurst’s Ben Settree had a big night with a winning double after the outstanding Emjayem Grand and Bonnie Jones won their races.
The other winners were Kit Fielding for Brocklehurst’s Chris Watson and Miss Peekaboo for Nathan and Garth Hoy.
