NEWLY-elected Dubbo Harness Racing Club president Len Edwards will be hoping to receive a late Christmas present when one of his own pacers lines up at the club's bumper Boxing Night program at the Showground Paceway tonight.
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Edwards took over the presidency from Jeff Costello at the start of the new racing season and he will be an interested onlooker tonight when Masterpiece Melody attempts to break a 19-month winless streak in the DCL Locksmiths Competitive Stakes (1720m).
The 10-year-old is owned by Edwards and his wife Virginia, and while he hasn't won for a long time he has been a good campaigner for the couple, as well as trainer Garth Hoy.
From 76 starts the Die Laughing (USA) x Jeb's Melody gelding has won 11 races and been placed a further 24 times, earning prize money of just short of $50,000.
His best effort in recent times was a second to Always Over in an event at Young earlier this month but from a good draw (barrier) two he should be able to be competitive in tonight's race.
Meanwhile, Dubbo-trained pacer Laser In Flight should be hard to beat as he looks to rebound from a last start failure in the Tom Watts Memorial.
One of two memorial events on the program, the Tom Watts Memorial will bring together a handy field of C2-C3 graded pacers, including James Sutton's consistent seven-year-old.
Laser In Flight won two races in the space of six days at Dubbo last month before finishing eighth in the Christmas Cup behind Holy Camp Girl.
Tonight he should get a good run from the inside of the second line but will need things to go his way in order to get clear running at a vital time.
Sutton's fellow Dubbo trainer Peter Reynolds will also fancy his chances in the race with his gelding Tommy Tuppence.
The five-year-old strung together some good results at Bathurst and Eugowra before being tested at Menangle at the start of November.
In the form guide it reads he finished seventh in that race but he was held up for a run at multiple stages and should have finished much closer.
Fields for tonight's meeting appear on page 19 of today's Daily Liberal.