Daryl Douglas shows the style that has netted him yet another 300-win season
Tireless Bendigo reinsman Daryl Douglas continues to rewrite harness racing’s record books.
Yesterday at Geelong the 37-year-old became the first driver in Australasian history to drive 300 winners a season four years in a row.
The no-fuss pilot brought up the milestone when Ezee Duzit Lombo was the second leg of a winning double.
Douglas then travelled to Kilmore, where he won last night’s first race, to take to 289 the number of Victorian races he’s won. He has also won nine in New South Wales and three in Tasmania.
This season’s haul follows 320 wins in 2006/07, an Australasian record 388 the following season and 358 in 2008/09.
Earlier this year he became the first driver to partner 250 Victorian winners six seasons in a row and last month joined Gavin Lang, Chris Alford and Chris Lewis as the only Australians to have driven 3500 career winners.
Douglas’s heroics capped a big few days for driver milestones with Greg Sugars and Scott Dyer also notching career firsts.
Melton-based Sugars cracked the double ton for the first time in his burgeoning career when he guided Noopa Dua to victory, also at Geelong, last Tuesday.
With 206 nationwide winners to his name – 198 in Victoria – the 25-year-old will more than double his previous best haul of 106 before the season ends on August 31.
Ever-improving Romsey reinsman Scott Dyer raised the bat for the first time in his 15-season career when he became the 10th driver to win 100 races for the season when he won aboard Grinnersawinner at Maryborough last Thursday.
Alford (222), Lang (182), Kerryn Manning (151), Nathan Jack (124), Damian Wilson (113), Brian Gath (110) and Jodi Quinlan (109) are the others to have topped the ton in the Garden State.
