Barry Howlett was impressed by his filly Sugar Delight who claimed her maiden win on debut in a dominating display in the first at Albany, a night dedicated in memory of passed members.
Race one, the George Hodgson Memorial saw Aldo Cortopassi drive the three-year-old daughter of champion stallion Bettors Delight USA to victory, with the short-priced $1.28 favourite spacing the field by 32.4m on the line, with the win further confirming that she has a future ahead of her.
A full sister to the lightly raced but well performed Sugarloaf who is almost ready to resume work after a year away from the track, Sugar Delight qualified at Bunbury on January 31 at Bunbury in a mile rate of 2:00:3.
Howlett walked away from Saturday’s meeting with training honours with four runners on the night for a winning treble and a second placing, a fairytale result for the stable.
Star Glance brought up the second win for the Howlett stable, giving the stable a race to race double early on in the night after taking out race two, the Joyce Pollard Memorial.
Driven by Emily Suvaljko, the five-year-old worked forward with two laps to go, eventually getting the lead, and managing to stave off Bazaar Package in an exciting finish to the second event.
Hayden Reeves trained the quinella in race three on the card, with the $21 shot Batavia Blackhole coming out on top over stablemate and race favourite, Maddy Maddy.
In a photo finish result in race four, the Tom Minchin Memorial, the 12-year-old got the nod on the line, with Batavia Blackhole bringing up his 13th career win from 177 starts.
The win in the memorial was fitting with Reeves’ father Colin driving for the late Tom Minchin.
The feature of the night, the Trevor Draper Memorial RWWA Westbred Feature went the way of Chasing Hill for leading trainer Michael Young.
Driven by Stuart McDonald, the $1.50 favourite took out the $11,000 feature, taking the track record with him, with the five-year-old making it three wins from five starts for the stable.
Race 5, the Harold Reid Memorial wen the way of the locals, with Kolisi taking top spot for Terry Dymock and Emily Johnson.
In an exciting finish, the six-year-old was able to get up at odds, beating the $1.10 favourite in Chillin by 1.1m in a mile rate of 1:58:6 over the 2265m trip.
Swanbourne Spunk took out race six on the card, the Mildred Truslove Memorial for trainer Jeremy Thornton and driver Hayden Charles.
At $15 odds, the seven-year-old brought up his fourth career win at start 80.
With bookend wins for the stable, Georgias Blossom NZ delivered Howlett the third and final instalment of his training treble on the night.
With two driving wins under his belt and three runner-up results, Cortopassi made his run three wide with just over a lap to go, charging away to win by 18.7m ahead of Just A Pet who has enjoyed second placing four out of his last five attempts.
Ashleigh Paikos
