There were moments when punters who had taken the $1.20 about Brackenreid’s winning prospects were a bit nervous, particularly when lining up for the run to the judge.
But the Keith Cotchin trained six-year-old, driven by Tayla French, rallied to account for Rocknfeelgood and the pacemaker Sheer Modern which had made a cheeky effort to lead all the way over the 2160m trip.
Bracknreid has always shown a liking to the Frank Ryan Raceway and three of his now 12 career wins have been on the circuit.
The other feature on the nine event card, the Frank and Carmel Ryan Memorial Pace, was also claimed by a local trainer.
Echuca’s Susan Hunter prepared Monash, driven by Shannon O’Sullivan, prevailed by a short half head over First And Erst and another Echuca-prepared runner Dallas Nikolay.
Monash has also demonstrated a liking to the track with two of its last three wins from a career 11 wins being achieved there.
It was a good night for northern Victorian trainers with Kyabram mentor Mick Blackmore and Mark Watson producing winners on the nine-event card.
Owned and bred by Echuca’s Byrne family, the Blackmore-prepared and James Herbertson-driven Markleigh Jean lived up to her impressive recent first up second at Swan Hill to outclass her rivals at her second race start.
Watson struck with Prosecco Boy, driven by Ellen Tormey, which was also a short priced favourite.
The winner’s mile rate of 1.56.4 over the 1755m trip was easily the slickest of the meeting and not far off the track record.
While traditionally the club’s best attended meeting of the year, crowds were limited for this year’s version due to COVID-19 restrictions but the club was still happy with how the meeting went.
