Seymour co-trainers Lee and Shannon Hope placed Proud Wolf ($4.40) beautifully to win at Morphettville (SA) on Saturday.
The six-year-old Amadeus gelding, coming off a Ladbrokes Park second at his first run since August last year, was a comfortable winner of the $42,000 Hughes Limousines BM75 Handicap (1200m).
The gelding, ridden by Victorian apprentice Jordan Turner, defeated Weather Channel ($14) by three-quarters of a length with $3.40 favourite Showpero a further three-quarters of a length away third.
Proud Wold is a noted mudlark and the Hopes had been searching for a heavy track. They found a heavy 8 over the border.
Stable manager Carol Shinn said the father-son co-trainers are hoping the track at Morphettville stays wet as they are sending the gelding back over the border in a couple of weeks.
“We’ll just keep him for sprint distances at present,” she said.
Bred and raced by Flowerdale couple John and Ellen Brown, Proud Wolf now has six wins and three minor placings from his 17 starts.
It was a mixed weekend for the Browns, as on Sunday John fell off a ladder on his property and was hospitalised with a pelvis fractured in two places and a broken wrist.
All at Hope Racing and this writer wish him a speedy recovery.
Voleur all the way
Earlier on the Morphettville program, the Robbie Laing-trained Temps Voleur ($9.50), part-owned by Kilmore resident Kath Merton and her son, Broadford-based Brent Merton, was an impressive all-the-way winner of the $42,000 James Boag’s Premium BM82 Handicap (2040m). The Time Thief six-year-old gelding outlasted $2.80 favourite The Willybe by three-quarters of a length. 
The win of Temps Voleur was his fourth on the Morphettville track.
Also part-owned by Melbourne racing journalist Neale Donnelley as well as Ken Coram and Blair Shaw of Best Bets, the gelding has now won seven races with four minor placings from his 43 starts.
Donchess lands dough
The Bob Challis-trained The Donchess  was a heavily backed ($8-$5) winner at Echuca’s  well patronised Publicans’ and Clubs’ Day on Monday.
The seven-year-old daughter of Southern Image and Rosa Galica was a gutsy winner of the Murphys Turf & Landscaping F&M BM58 Handicap (1600m) for the Kyneton mare.
Giving Patrick Moloney the second leg of a riding double,  the mare defeated Halcyon ($19) by a half-length, with $4 favourite Shewearsthepants a further length away third.
The Donchess was bred by Ralph Portaro, and is raced by the long-time stable client in partnership with the trainer’s partner, Liz Irwin.
The mare now has two wins and two minor placings from her 10 starts.
Arctic ices big carnival
Challis fellow Kyneton trainer Neil Dyer rounded off a successful Darwin Cup carnival with another win at Fannie Bay last Saturday.
Dyer won with Arctic Song ($3.30) in the $20,000 NT News Benchmark 76 Handicap (1200). The gelding was ridden by Wayne Kerford.
The win was the seven-year-old Northern Meteor gelding’s third in the Top End this trip.
Part-owned by Dyer, Arctic Song has now won five races with 12 minor placings from his 38 starts.