Tomlin Memorial the highlight at Newcastle

Feature harness racing returns to the Hunter Valley tonight (Mar. 31) when the Bill and Glenn Tomlin Memorial will be run.

The Tomlin Memorial is a special race on the Newcastle Harness Racing Club’s calendar, acknowledging the contribution the family has made to the sport.

Three heats of the series were conducted last Friday night with the Mark Callaghan trained Swell Time (A Rocknroll Dance) clocking the fastest mile rating of 1:55.8 in the first qualifier.

Driven by Mark’s son Tom, the seven year old mare showed a brilliant turn of speed, coming from back in the field to round up her rivals and score by a comfortable four metre margin.

In a show of confidence, his father Mark has stuck with sixteen year old Tom to take the reins again for tonight’s final.

Swell Time is likely to be sent out as the favourite for the Memorial despite having to overcome a wide draw with some of her main rivals drawing more favorably.

But young Tom remains confident that his horse can win the race with the right run.

“She is a very nice mare with a great turn of foot,” said Tom.

“The draw has not been so kind to us, but if we get a bit of luck early and find a spot not far off the pace I think she can still win.”

“She has been super since coming back from a spell and seems bigger, stronger and faster. Hopefully, she can get the prize again tonight and progress onto better races.”

It will be a busy night for Callaghan as apart from his drive in the final, Tom has another four engagements on the eight race program.

Callaghan believes Repartee, his drive in the final race is his next best winning chance with the ex kiwi mare dropping in grade.

“Repartee should be hard to beat tonight from gate six.”

“On paper it is an evenly graded race and even though her recent numerical form does not read all that well conditions should suit her.”

“She has been a good money spinner for her connections and hopefully tonight she can get back into the winner’s circle for them.”

This afternoon, heats of the Riverina Championships will be conducted at Wagga where a number of leading trainers will be represented while the Parkes Club also races tonight, attracting strong acceptors for a nine race program.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Michael Dumesny, for HRNSW