While he missed out on a potential double, Dubbo driver James Sutton still left the Dubbo Showground and Paceway with plenty of reason to celebrate on Wednesday night.
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Sutton took out the opening event, the Radio 2DU and Zoo FM Pace, in resounding fashion while seated behind William Stubbs' Lovin Everday.
The locally trained horse, who now has five wins from 30 starts, has been a frequent partner for Sutton in recent times, and the driver is optimistic about future results.
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"I've driven her maybe ten times or so and I've won three races with her, so that's three out of those five, so it's a pretty good pairing, I like teaming up with her when I can," Sutton said.
Sutton and Lovin Everyday entered the contest as $2.90 favourites after some late mail betting, and showed why early in the race, taking the lead from the gate and maintaining it at a steady pace throughout.
Im Alrite ($13.00) was held up in the early-goings, but managed to work forward and cling to second place heading into the final turn, while the Michael Pay trained Im Super Sophie ($4.60) battled for third.
Sutton and Lovin Everyday pushed hard along the final straight, creating a sizable gap between the leader and the two closest rivals, something that Sutton was confident the horse could provide.
"Yeah, she's did show that motor down the final stretch there, she actually got eased up about 10 out from the finish line, so she's definitely worked well," Sutton said.
"It was a pretty comfortable win, we were feeling pretty confident in the lead up,she's been running pretty nice, I probably didn't have to really let her go at the 400, but I just figured if I could scoot away from everything and create that gap, then it's all on them to catch me, so I went for it."
Im Alrite finished 10.6m behind Livin Everday, with Im Super Sophie taking third and Nathan Hoy's Rodanthe Nights finishing up fourth.
While Sutton had high hopes for his second race of the night, riding for Greg Pay on Kimsarme Direct in the Grapevine Cafe Pace after drawing a favourable, front row start for the mare he finished up third in that race after leading early from the gate.