Murwillumbah trainer Matthew Dunn broke a notable drought at Rosehill last Saturday when Boys Night Out took the 1500-metre Class 3 TAB Highway Plate under Aaron Bullock.
It was Dunn’s first Highway win in 46 weeks — remarkable given that it was also his 39th win in the series.
That means he won 38 Highway races in the 409 weeks from September 10, 2016, when he won with Quatronic, to July 13 last year, when he won with Cranky Harry — or one every 10.76 weeks on average.
When the breakthrough came, it came in style. Boys Night Out ($2.80 favourite) was dominant in winning by 3¾ lengths from My Last Hooray with Warrior For Peace a further half-length away in third place.
Despite the ultimate ease of the win, Bullock did have a few anxious moments early in the race, thanks to fellow jockey Anna Roper, who somehow went into the race carrying a towel.
“In the early stages, Anna crossed me with the towel flapping all over the joint,” Bullock said. She must have forgotten to get rid of it before the race and it wasn’t until after we’d gone about 400 metres, when luckily she’d crossed me and gone down to the fence, that the towel went flying.
Aside from that, it was all smooth sailing for the winner.
“Soft draws always help (he drew barrier two) and I was able to put him into the perfect spot. He then got into a lovely rhythm and was getting through the ground really easily.
“It was just a case of going at the right time and in the end it didn’t matter because he had plenty on them.”
Boys Night Out, who was trained in Victoria by Mathew Ellerton before arriving with Dunn, is now ineligible for Highways but the trainer doesn’t think that will stopping adding further wins to his CV.
“He was dynamite. He’s better than a Highway horse,” he said.
Extreme relief
Lady Extreme might have been fresher than trainer Blake Ryan wanted her to be, but that didn’t stop her recording a gutsy first-up win the benchmark 72 Midway Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill.
Due to biblical levels of rain in NSW through May, Hawkesbury-based Ryan was unable to give the five-year-old a trial ahead of her return. And he was worried during the race that she might have been headed for her fifth consecutive second placing.
Lady Extreme ($4.40 equal favourite) showed plenty of courage to reel in Let’s Go Again, who looked to have the race won until collared right on the line. The winning margin was a neck, with Harry’s Bar a length and a half further away in third place.
Lady Extreme has now recorded three wins, five seconds, a third and a fifth from 10 starts.
“She really deserved that one, but I must admit that with 200 metres to go I was starting to think, here we go again,” Ryan said.
“She’s come back really well. Mid-race I thought they might have been getting along a bit quick for her but she really pinned her ears back late.
“That will bring her right along as well. There’s a lot more improvement in her. The break has done her the world of good.
“She’s the kind of mare that I can’t just trial on any track so we found a few mates for her to work with at home and she had a couple of really good hitouts heading into this.
“I was confident that we were coming here fit enough and she looked a picture. She did the rest.”
Winning jockey Alysha Collett was similarly impressed.
“I was probably a bit worried like everyone else about missing the trial but Blake had her ready to go. Her last bit was really encouraging,” she said.
Charle in charge
Wyong trainer Sara Ryan could have a promising stayer on her hands in Charleroi, winner of last Saturday’s $60,000 Super Maiden (1600m) at Kembla Grange.
Charleroi, backed from $3.80 to start a $3.10 second favourite, scored narrowly from behind the pace under Chad Lever.
The three-year-old Dundeel gelding should have further improvement in him given this was just his third start. He is out of the listed 1600-metre winner Meuse, from the family of champion racehorse and stallion Redoute’s Choice.
 Lever went on to take riding honours for the afternoon with a winning treble.
Another horse to follow from Kembla is the John Sargent-trained Hooligan Tommy, an impressive 3¼-length winner in the 1600-metre benchmark 64 under Keagan Latham.
The track was rated a heavy 8 and the winner obviously relished it, so it could pay to follow him as we head into winter.
At Tamworth the same afternoon, the 1000-metre Willow Tree Cup went to $4.20 favourite Sagaponack, trained at Newcastle by Jason Deamer and ridden by Jake Pracey-Holmes, who rode a double at the meeting.
Gunnedah-based Gavin Groth took the training honours at Tamworth with a double of his own.
The previous afternoon at Casino, apprentice Jett Newman rode three winners, two of them for the top Murwillumbah stable of Matthew Dunn.
Newman can claim three kilos but that’s unlikely to last long — she is obviously a talented rider with a bright future.
Two cups and a goblet
This Friday’s Showcase action is at Dubbo, where the highlights are the $40,000 Silver Goblet for two-year-olds over 1100 metres and a $50,000 Super Maiden over 1300 metres.
Tomorrow in the Moree Plains Shire in state’s north, the Mallawa Amateur Picnic Racing Club, will conduct its annual meeting. A six-race program features the 1400-metre Mallawa Picnic Cup and 1000-metre Mallawa Bracelet.
Sunday sees country meetings at Gulgong and the Sapphire Coast.
At Gulgong, in the Mudgee region, the feature race will be the 1200-metre Gulgong Cup, while at the Sapphire Coast there’s a $50,000 Super Maiden (1200m).