Tom Pay and Phoebe Betts at Dubbo on Sunday after winning with Snoop Stride.
FORMER Dubbo reinsman Tom Pay made it a successful trip home on Sunday driving a double at his former local track.
Moving to Bathurst just shy of 12 months ago to work for the Mat and Gemma Rue stable, Pay was confident he would have a good day.
His first win was a family affair driving the fancied JoanandI who is trained by his father Michael.
Beginning out of barrier one the $1.90 favourite scored a comfortable all the way victory, winning her first race at only start number five.
“I was confident in dad’s mare if she did everything right,” Pay said after the race.
His next steer of the day was on the Monica Betts-trained Snoop Stride who is a regular drive of Pay’s.
Although trained by Betts her daughter Phoebe spends most of her free time working the horses with ‘Snoop’ being the family favourite.
“I knew it would be hard from the draw but after his last start at Penrith I was confident he’d be in the finish if the right run presented itself,” the 15-year-old said.
After being taken off arm the eight-year-old gelding flew down the outside scoring a 2.8 metre victory defeating the consistent Steve Turnbull-trained Shandance NZ.
“I knew Snoop would run an honest race but wasn’t sure if he’d win,” Pay said.
“Monica and Phoebe have been a great support throughout my driving career so it’s always nice to get a winner for them.”
The move to Bathurst has proved to be a great opportunity for the young reinsman having been given driving opportunities from a number of trainers including Bernie Hewitt, Peter Bullock, Ashlee Grives and boss Gemma Rue.
Already having driven half of his total wins from last season only nine weeks into the new one, the 2018/2019 season looks to be Pay’s best one yet.
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