Sunday evening provided a great many firsts for trainer Madison Reynolds at the Dubbo Harness Racing track.
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Reynold's newest horse Tophut Johny took out it's first win in the very first race back at the Dubbo track since the lockdown lifted and brother Jordan Reynolds picked up his first win in his first appearance in the sulky for Madison's stable.
"It went really good, we were all very happy with how everything ended up panning out," Reynolds said of his and his brother's efforts.
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While Madison had entered the race meet confident of a good showing for both his horses, it was Johny that the trainer was less sure about, but those concerns were quickly put to rest by the inexperienced starter.
"We got outside of the leader a lot easier than what we thought we were going to and once we got there, it turned out we were pretty confident about our chances actually," Reynolds said.
"I was happy with the performance, but we don't want to get to ahead of ourselves, he started off well and worked and we couldn't really ask for anything more right now."
Tophut Johny beat out Mat Rue's Riverside Gift and the red hot favourite in Nathan Turnbull's Linx Downs in what Reynolds terms as 'the perfect family affair'.
"It was definitely good for all of us, he's bred by us and his mother was bred by us, so it was good to get a win with all of us involved," Reynolds said.
"It was really good for Jordan to get the win with him as well, he does most of the work with him, so it was a good way to see him get paid back.
"It was the first time that I've had Jordan actually drive one of my horses and he did great, he did everything right for both of them."
The effort will likely have won Tophut Johny a rest and a lay-up, with the horse expected to return in two weeks time in Dubbo, rather than at next weekend's Parkes fixture as originally anticipated.
Joanandi, Reynold's other horse in the mix at the meeting, will still head to Parkes, with a number of changes in mind to improve on a disappointing placing later down the race card, finishing up in ninth place out of the ten competitors in the Ray Tobin Signs Pace.
"There's a couple of things we change for her and we can fix those up and she should be good to go," Reynolds said.
It's a tricky balancing act for the stable, with Reynolds currently having the two horses in any real shape to work at the moment, after a long and bruising lockdown period put him in the unenviable position of turning out horses.
"At the moment, we've really only got those two here racing, but we're in that position right now where we've got to take what we can get while the racing's in our own backyard," Reynolds said.
"I'll back her up in Parkes next weekend, but with him being such a little horse and sitting in the deck first up, I think it's best to give him the week off and race him fortnightly for now."
"If we had more horses at the moment we'd be looking to spread them around and get more done, but right now at the moment, we're working with what we've got and the racing that's available."
Also joining Tophut Johny in the winner's circle on Sunday evening was the Greg Pay trained Bid for Stardom, who took out the Crampton's Carpet Pace as one of the favourites after Nathan Turnbull's Dontch See It tired after an early lead.