Donegal Luther storms home in Shirley Turnbull Memorial

Local pacer Donegal Luther (Bettors Creek) shocked his more fancied harness racing rivals when he finished powerfully to take out the $40,000 Shirley Turnbull Memorial at Bathurst on Friday night.

The race was considered to be a dead set match between the in form Captains Knock and Swayzee who was looking to return to the winning list after having encountered some setbacks earlier in the season.

And the tactics of Brad Hewitt on Captains Knock and Cameron Hart on Swayzee would play a major role in how the race would turn out.

Ripp showed his usual electrifying early speed to find the front. However Hewitt let Captains Knock from his wide second row draw to go around the field while Swayzee right behind followed suit.

But then Captains Knock pressed on and he found the lead with just two laps left to travel. Swayzee was then caught outside the leader but that is a position he has won many races in the past and had justified his star status. Ripp took the trail behind the leader.

Donegal Luther who also started from the second row but his driver Amanda Turnbull stayed back in the field and allowed him to settle back last on the rails. Turnbull stayed on the rails and going into the back for the last night she was still at least 25 metres from the lead. Even though he started to pick up ground few would have thought that he would be in the finish.

The crowd was expecting an epic battle between Captains Knock who looked to be travelling within himself on the final lap while Swayzee appeared to be struggling to keep in touch while Ripp was looking for an inside run.

However Donegal Luther continued to sustain that long run from the rear of the field on the final bend and he gathered in Captains Knock in the home straight to record a convincing win by just under five metres with Swayzee only a metre behind Captains Knock in third place.

DONEGAL LUTHER DEC 26 REPLAY

Donegal Luther rated 1.56.6 for the 2790 metre journey which was outside the record of 1.54.9 set by Swayzee when he scored in last year’s Turnbull memorial. It was easily the striking black gelding’s best win to date. He is raced by prolific owner Mick Boots who would have expected Swayzee his other pacer to prevail on the night.

Despite his loss, Captains Knock is still in contention for the Carnival of Cups bonus having already taken the first two legs at Wagga and Newcastle. He thrives on racing and trainer Brad Hewitt is likely to race his star in the $40,000 Goulburn Cup on 2 January before competing in the third leg of the Carnival of Cup Series back at Bathurst on 30 January  with the $60,000 Bathurst Gold Rush Cup ahead of the fourth leg the $60,000 Albury Cup on 13 February.

It’s fair to say that the Swayzee of old would have outstayed his rivals as evidenced in so many feature races in the past. But even though he had his colours lowered he refused to give in and at the finish was still trying to gather in Captains Knock. Where he turns up next will be of interest to his many admirers.

The time-honoured Shirley Turnbull Memorial a fast class event has been run for more than three decades in memory of Shirley, one of the most respected matriarch’s in the sport who was the wife of the late great ‘AD’ Tony Turnbull, and mother to Anne, Steve, Therese, Craig, Cindy and the late Greg Turnbull all of whom excelled in harness racing at the highest level.

It was therefore fitting that Steve’s daughter Amanda should take out this special race for the Turnbulls. Amanda has been New South Wales leading reinswoman winning 2571 races that also includes 14 Group One events. She showed great resilience coming back after a nasty training accident earlier in the year.

It proved to be a big night for Amanda as two races later she recorded a double when Scruffy (Bettors Delight) trained by Chris Frisby and also raced by Mick Boots snatched victory in the last stride over Lettuce Go Miki in the XXXX Gold Pace.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tony Milanese, for Harnesslink