Hope lives up to her name in an emotional victory

The first at Narrogin was an emotional one for the Elliot family, with their aptly named two-year-old filly Hope saluting at generous odds at just her second start in a race.

Bred and raced by Tom and Chris Elliot, the double west bred filly was named in honour of their granddaughter who was sadly stillborn in July 2018.

The filly was born on the 15th of October in 2018, on the International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day, just one day after the Elliot family had walked together in The Choosing Hope Walk of 2018, in honour and remembrance of their granddaughter, daughter and niece.

“When we put her racing name in, we decided to put Hope in as our choice, she’s pretty special, really,” Elliot said.

“It meant everything to not only us, but to our family. It just meant a lot. Like everyone in trotting, you breed them and just hoping like us.”

Trained by Thomas Elliot and driven by Trent Wheeler, the youngster managed to run over the race favourite, to win by 2.7m in a mile rate of 1:59:2 over the 1823m sprint trip.

The Elliot family has a long-standing history in harness racing, but every win still means so much to the Meckering based family.

“Amys Daughter, the mother, was a really good mare to us and really helped us out. Every time we seemed to be a bit down, she would always win a race. It was just a real family affair.”

“I’m going to take the credit for the win, but Aiden De Campo had her for six weeks as we can’t trial in Meckering and I work my other horses on their own. I only picked her up a week before, the credit really should go to Aiden,” Elliot said.

Flash Mob broke through for her maiden win in the three-year-old race for trainer Claire Cummins and driver Mark Johnson. After settling mid field throughout, the $11 shot caused a boil over when she ran down the favourite in the concluding stages of race two, to win narrowly in a mile rate of 2:04:1.

After over a year on the sidelines, trainer Lang Inwood has had his first win since regaining his trainer licence only a short time ago.

Batavia Streamline started as the $2.30 favourite in race three when she lined up from barrier three with Aldo Cortopassi in the sulky.

Not only did Inwood take out the maiden, but he also managed to quinella it with his two runners, with Batavia Jane going down narrowly by a head to her stablemate.

Star In Art has returned to winning form since returning to the stables of Byford based trainer Peter Anderson.

The short-priced favourite lead all the way from barrier one to claim the win in race five, giving Aldo Cortopassi his second driving success on the night.

Hayden Reeves managed to quinella the fifth on the card with his runner Thejewelinhereye running down the leaders to win by a neck over her stablemate Bountiful Reactor.

The win gave Collie king Trent Wheeler a winning double in the sulky.

The Monies On has continued his good form with a win in race six for trainer Larry Nelligan and driver Hayden Hancock.

After working his way to the lead, the three-year-old was too good for his rivals, winning by 5m and giving Nelligan the result he would have been expecting with his other runner, the race favourite Armarockstar, who broke in the score up.

Peter Anderson claimed training honours on the night with a double, with his runner Cluster Star staving off El Jessie by a half head in the seventh.

Driven by Aldo Cortopassi, the win brought up a treble for the freelance reinsman, as well as a winning double for owners Allwood Stud.

There was quite a bit of value throughout the Narrogin meeting and the last did not fail to disappoint, with the Rob Abercromby-trained and driven Star Of Madonna leading all the way from barrier one.

Recording his first win for the stable since joining Abercromby earlier in the year.

The four-year-old brought up his second career victory, 15 months since his last win.

By Ashleigh Paikos for RWWA