Hewitt has high hopes with his young team

A strong representation of country trained harness racing pacers will ascend on Tabcorp Park Menangle this Saturday night (Jul. 1).

It will be a big night of racing with the Trot NSW Finals complementing the New South Wales Bred Finals as well as the Club Menangle Waratah Series Final.

Once horseman to figure prominently across the features is Bathurst’s Bernie Hewitt.

Boasting 1842 wins as a trainer, Hewitt will take seven horses from his team to the meeting.

Hewitt has strong hand in both the two and three-year-old NSW Bred Finals with six youngsters making their way through from heats that were conducted in regional areas.

Hewitt has, for many seasons been prominent in feature juvenile features which is testament to him and his owners who have either bred or purchased good stock that have been able to make it to the big stage.

“We love having a big team of young horses each year and races like these that we are contesting this weekend are what we strive to be competitive in,” said Hewitt.

“The introduction of these races is a reward for locally bred horses in the state, there is no doubt about that and hopefully with a bit of luck we can be in the mix in both finals.”

Hewitt’s best winning chance comes up in the two-year-old final with Beachride (Sunshine Beach), a gelding that was bred and now raced by his wife Cath.

First up from a break, he did a power of work but still proved too strong in his heat win at Young and despite drawing wide on Saturday night, Beachride has the class to overcome that adversity.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Michael Dumesny, for HRNSW