O’Reilly gets 200th winner

A cool, calm and collected drive behind Lone Wolf (Sweet Lou) saw Sarah O’Reilly reach 200 wins in the harness racing sulky at Oamaru on Thursday.

Being tucked away four back on the markers for much of race 6 wasn’t a problem for the Brent and Tim White trained pacer, with O’Reilly expertly plotting a passage to win.

After being stuck on 199 wins for a couple of weeks, the junior reinswoman was delighted to tick off her 200-win milestone.

“It is a bit of a relief.”

“(I was stuck on 199) since Ashburton, so it has been a couple of weeks, it was a bit frustrating.”

Lone Wolf charged home late to seal his victory in race 6.

Though the horse made some mistakes early in his career, he is showing plenty of improvement with his manners.

“He is still learning, he was a bit of a trick early on,” O’Reilly said.

“He wouldn’t put his feet in the right places, but we changed a bit of gear on him and he is pretty good now.”

“He was a bit flat around the corner because he gets his head on the side a bit.”

“I just had to wait for him to balance up and when he did he sprinted really well.”

LONE WOLF REPLAY

The Brent and Tim White stable have produced eight wins already this season at a strong strike-rate.

O’Reilly joined their team at Ashburton last year and is loving her time there.

“The horses are doing really good at the moment, which is great.”

“They do a good job with them, they are really good people to work for.”

A regular at race meetings from Manawatu to Canterbury and Southland, O’Reilly only has one plan following her 200-win achievement – to keep driving winners all across the country.

Another milestone was ticked off at Oamaru on Thursday when Brad Mowbray produced his first quinella as a trainer.

Second Amendment continued an outstanding run of form when taking out race 8 over his stablemate Mighty Reactor.

In a further success at Oamaru on Thursday, Graeme Telfer produced his 50th win as a trainer when Barrytown took out race 2.

For complete race results, click here.

by Jonny Turner, for Harness Racing New Zealand