Former jockey Mick Attard recorded his first metropolitan win as a trainer when Putt For Dough took out the opening race at Randwick last Saturday, the 1400-metre benchmark 72 Midway Handicap.
On a track rated a heavy 8, jockey Tom Sherry settled his mount midfield.
Cruel Summer meanwhile was sent straight to the front by jockey Rachel King and with 100 metres left to run still looked certain to win.
But Putt For Dough ($17) finished the race off strongly and, with Cruel Summer feeling his 60.5kg handicap, hit the front with about 50 metres to run to win drawing away by a length and a quarter.
Always Sure, who’d settled well back in the field, finished the race off well to claim third place, three lengths from the runner-up.
“This is Mick Attard’s first metropolitan winner and it’s great to be part of that,” Sherry said of the Hawkesbury-based conditioner.
“He’s got this horse going really well. I’ve ridden him at his last two starts and the horse has been looking for 1400 metres. He found the right race today.”
Needless to say, Attard was delighted by the result, achieved with his 43rd city runner.
 “I rode winners on this track back in the day, although I can’t remember how many, but to train a winner on a big day like this is really good,” he said.
“When the horse puts his mind to it, that’s what he can do. He’s a horse with a lot of ability but is his own worst enemy.
“He’s a handful at home and a handful at the races but on his day he’s a good horse.”
Boys back in town
Murwillumbah Matthew Dunn had hoped to qualify his promising galloper Belvedere Boys for the $1 million Country Championships Final on April 6 but when the gelding was beaten into third place in the Northern Wild Card, that opportunity was lost.
As a result, Belvedere Boys started instead in last Saturday’s 1400-metre Class 3 TAB Highway Handicap at Randwick.
With the track on its way to another downgrade (and eventual abandonment of the meeting), jockey Nash Rawiller settled Belvedere Boys midfield before looming up to challenge approaching the 200-metre mark.
Revelling in the conditions, the $2.50 favourite careered away to win by 4¼ lengths from Dirty Merchant, with Wal’s Angels a short neck away in third place.
Belvedere Boys has now recorded four wins and three placings from his eight starts and looks certain to improve on that record as we head into winter with the prospect of more heavy tracks.
A brace for Brittany
Victorian raider Jayzeal ($12) staged a form reversal to take last Saturday’s Leeton Cup (1600m) for Wangaratta trainer Chris Davis and four-kilo claiming apprentice Brittany Button.
Despite having beaten just one home in the same grade (benchmark 58) over the same trip at Swan Hill 11 days earlier, the winner proved just a shade too strong for Dark Legacy, scoring by a long neck with a further half-length to third-placed Fil.
Button went on to win the following race, a Class 1, aboard Wagunda for trainer Andrew Dale to take riding honours for the day, while another Wangaratta man, Dan McCarthy, fared best of the trainers, leading in a winning double.
At Warren the same afternoon, apprentice Shannen Llewellyn rode two winners, both for Dubbo-based Brett Robb.
Follow that Star
As we head into winter and with more heavy tracks assured, it could pay to follow the Annette Lee-trained Wilderness Star.
Last Saturday at Taree, on a track rated a heavy 9, the mare raced away to a 6¼-length win in the 1614-metre benchmark 50 under Kacie Adams.
Piraeus plunders
There was no surprise on Thursday of last week at Orange when the feature Orange Gold Cup (2110m) and its accompanying Big Dance eligibility went to the Rosehill stable of Richard and Will Freedman courtesy of four-year-old Merchant Navy gelding Piraeus.
Backed from $2.50 to start $1.75 favourite and ridden by Keagan Latham, Piraeus scored by three-quarters of a length from Our Orator with Marsabit a long head away in third place.
The supporting Cup Day Sprint (1010m) saw the Brad Widdup-trained Akaka Falls ($5) win by three-quarters of a length from Smokeshow. Apprentice Zac Wadick was the winning rider.
Hello, Dolly
Most impressive winner at Wagga last Sunday was arguably in the 1000-metre Bede Murray Super Maiden, where the Scott Spackman-trained local filly Dolly scored by 2¼ lengths as $1.75 favourite under Josh Richards.
The feature Murrumbidgee Cup (1800m) went to One Aye, trained at the Sapphire Coast by the Joseph/Jones team and ridden by Jack Martin.
At Muswellbrook the same day, the 1000-metre Lone Pine Charge went to local mare Upside ($31), trained by Justin Bowen and aptly ridden by Darryl “Digger” McLellan.
The Jerry Plains Cup (1500m) saw another local, the Carlos Antonio-trained Hemsted ($14), score clearly under apprentice Julia Presits.
Two gems depart
Racing folk in the Northern Rivers region were saddened last week with the passing of Les Polglase.
Polglase, a former director and life member of the Tweed River Jockey Club at Murwillumbah, had raced many successful horses including Herculian Prince, who won the 2010 Metropolitan at Randwick in the Gai Waterhouse stable.
Another to leave us last week was popular Wagga racing man Ray Burt. He was 79.
“Ray was a great bloke and will be greatly missed,” said former jockey and trainer Dave Heywood.
Both men died after long illnesses.
Worth a look
This Friday sees the Tamworth Jockey Club stage the biggest meeting in its history, headlined by the $200,000 Tamworth Cup (1400m), a qualifier for the $3 million Big Dance at Randwick in November. Five other races on the eight-race card carry $50,000 in prizemoney apiece, including the 1000-metre, Super Maiden.
Saturday is cup day at Merriwa and Tomingley, with the features over 1350 and  1500 metres respectively.
On Sunday at Narromine, the 1300-metre Diggers Cup is the main race.