IT had been a while between drinks for Peggyville but the James Clyburn-trained gelding was back in the winner's circle on Friday night after taking out the Daily Liberal Pace (1720m) at Dubbo Paceway.
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With Stephen Dowton in the gig, Peggyville surprised punters in the first event on Friday night as the $13 chance led from virtually start to finish.
The four-year-old started well and got to the lead and despite showing signs of fatigue late on, held on for three-metre win.
"He's got really good gate speed and then settles in not too bad and that's where he likes to be, he's a more even type of race horse than going up and sprinting hard," Dowton said after the win.
"Towards the end I thought we were starting to stop a bit but he probably switched off being that far in front."
Peggyville's last win came in July when he recorded back-to-back victories at Young.
The gelding's recent form did not fill punters with much hope with a second place at Parkes earlier this month sandwich by ninth placed finishes at Parkes and Bathurst.
But only the second at Parkes and most recent run at Bathurst have been since a spell during January and February and both trainer and driver agreed Peggyville had come back an improved pacer.
Even hot favourite We Own The Night ($1.50), driven by Peter Hedges for Nathan Hurst, couldn't chase down Peggyville.
We Own The Night, with seven wins and 20 placings in his career, was heavily backed but had to settle for another second-placed finish while Trent Rue's Lawsons Way ($28.70)
"It's been a little while and he needed a run like that where he could get a couple of easy quarters in which he did tonight so it was good," Dowton said, before speaking about Peggyville's recent form.
"It was a bit of a step up at Bathurst and they don't let you let up there and that makes a difference and I drove him at Parkes and he was probably a little underdone so the Bathurst run suited him better and got him fitter."
Peggyville set a good early pace with the first quarter done in 30.2 seconds before the pace slowed dramatically with the second quarter out to 33.2 quarters.
Dowton began to get a move on again once they got the bell, with 30.9 and 29.5 the times recorded in the final two quarters.
"It was pretty good that way (getting to the lead early) and halfway around the last corner I was pretty happy but he started to stagger a little bit," Dowton said.
With win number four now recorded from 28 starts, both Dowton and Clyburn admitted have no real big plans or expectations on Peggyville with more racing around the Dubbo and Parkes tracks planned.
