PUNTERS at Dubbo's annual Boxing Day meeting at the Showground Paceway got off to a good start on Friday night, but by the time the two feature events rolled around it became very hard to find a winner.
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The Wally Sibley Memorial (2120m) produced arguably one of the biggest-priced winners seen in recent times when Bella's Charm, trained at Parkes by Tom Ward and driven by Ricky Hunt, saluted at a starting price of $207.70.
Of course without TAB coverage the pools would have been down with only an on-course tote determining the prices, however the mare didn't know what punters thought of her chances and overcame a draw on the outside of the second line to take out the event by just over more metres.
Milton Chaney ($24.40, Garth Hoy) finished second while Loves The Show ($8.80, Kel Winnell) rounded out the trifecta.
Friday night's win was Bella's Charm's eighth and came in a mile rate of 2:04.2.
Just 30 minutes later, the other feature was also won by a roughie when Studleigh Becky bounced back from a luckless run at Dubbo 12 days previously to win the Tom Watts Memorial (2120m).
Despite being a winner of 13 races prior to the event and the best-performed horse in the race, the Leigh Davis-trained six-year-old mare was sent out as a $30.10 chance.
Young driver Jake Davis drove a flawless race from the outside draw, taking Studleigh Becky back towards the rear of the field before getting into clear running late in the race and mowed down her rivals to beat Home In Indiana ($30.10, Jason Gaffney) by 2.3m, with Janet's Ace ($2.00 fav, Terry Robb) filling third spot.
Earlier in the night former Dubbo trainer Garth Hoy made a successful return back to his old home town when Ellamojo scored in the most thrilling race of the night.
After driving the mare quite early from her back-row draw, Hoy took off with more than a lap to go but was stranded three-wide when the leading pair Blessedbythebest and Happy Napa upped the tempo for the final 800m of the R Slapp And Co Competitive Stakes (1720m).
The trio staged a thrilling battle over the final 400m as Ellamojo ($2.30 fav) loomed, only for the other pair to fight back tenaciously on her inside.
Down the straight all three runners looked likely to win at different stages but on the line it was Ellamojo that stuck her head out to win by a short-half-head from Blessedbythebest ($3.50, Jordan Reynolds), with Happy Napa (7.00, Peter Lew) finishing third despite being beaten less than a neck.
