Blayney to honour Club stalwart

Blayney Harness Racing Club stalwart Peter Marshall has been honoured with the running of a race series bearing his name since his passing five years ago.

The series has been a feature on Blayney’s Carnival of Cups since 2016 and has been dominated by champion Bathurst trainer-driver Amanda Turnbull, who has won the Peter Marshall Memorial Final three times . . . firstly with Taihape Sunset (2017) followed by My Secret Beach (2018) and Chasing The Wind (2020).

The Blayney club received a huge boost this season by being granted an additional two race dates, a just reward for the improvements made at the venue by the hard-working committee.

“Peter’s Memorial was run as part of our Club’s Carnival of Cups two-meeting fixture in the past, but we decided to spread our feature races between the four meetings,” said Blayney club secretary John Kingham.

“We will also look forward to the Billy Soo Cup and Jack Honan Memorial in February.

“We were overwhelmed by the number of nominations we received for today’s meeting.

“I guess having the healthy $14,000 Final next week attracted those good numbers, but really we are happy with the fields across all eight races.

“It is shaping up to be a great two-day carnival over the next two Sundays and we are pleased that we can welcome everybody along to enjoy the racing after the long Covid lockdown period.”

In the qualifying heats of the Marshall Memorial at Blayney on Sunday, Amanda Turnbull again looks to hold the key with her two pacers Captain Oh Captain and Hold My Halo appearing to be the top seeds for the series.

Captain Oh Captain will be chasing a hat-trick of wins in the first heat (Race 5).

The three-year-old colt has been impressive in his past two wins at Bathurst, his most recent being against well-performed older horses.

The gelding that finished second to Captain Oh Captain in that race, Burns Bay, again appears to be the danger.

Hold My Halo contests the third heat (Race 7) and despite drawing the back row, the filly will be hard to hold out.

She galloped at the start at West Wyalong on October 29 but finished up be being beaten less than nine metres.

The remaining heat (Race 6) is an open affair with all 10 runners having serious claims.

To view fields for Blayney on Sunday click here.

By Michael Dumesny for HRNSW