Gray hoping for wins at Winton

Ryal Bush harness racing trainer Brett Gray will take a handy team of five horses to the Central Southland Raceway on Saturday. Of special personal significance will be the Murray Gray Memorial named in memory of his father, and this one he’d especially like to win.

In Race One the stable is represented by Janaka’s Delight (Bettor’s Delight) and Joy Jaccka (Creatine).

After drawing one at her last start Janaka’s Delight got hampered by another runner causing her to break and she didn’t recover.

“She’s drawn one again which isn’t ideal but hopefully she can get away well this time. She worked well this morning (Tuesday),” Gray said.

Joy Jaccka still has a bit to learn and after running eighth on this course four weeks ago she’s been taken back to the workouts.

“She’s a work in progress. Her last run wasn’t that disappointing because she got buggered up at the start and was too far from them (when the field was let go). She made a midrace move, so the run wasn’t as bad as it looked.”

Hunting Weight (Stunin Cullen) will compete in Race Six after a nine month break from the track. She’s been prepared for Saturday’s race with a couple of workouts.

“I think we’re starting to win the war but I don’t want to say too much and jinx ourselves. She’s got ability and went well at the workouts the other day.”

McLean (Sportswriter) is a horse that needs luck in the running, and on Saturday he follows out a smart beginner in Tara Victory (Vincent) so could get a nice trip.

“It could work out really well for him. He’s good when he’s held up for one run.”

In the Murray Gray Memorial Brett has Cool Phelan (Pegasus Spur) starting off the ten metre mark. She broke a couple of times in her last outing and will need to step off on Saturday to be competitive.

“She needed that run the other day and she had a gallop. She’s not the best around Invercargill and likes Winton a lot better so we’ve changed her steering gear and hopefully that helps.”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink