It’s time to shine

It is heading towards that time of year when harness racing in New South Wales is in the spotlight.

Tabcorp Park Menangle will come alive on February 19 when the Carnival of Miracles gets underway with the $250,000 Chariots Of Fire the headline event.

Several classic races will be run during a fortnight of features with the $1million Garrards Miracle Mile the highlight on Saturday night, March 5.

Another carnival that closely follows is Bathurst’s Gold Crown for the juveniles.

Heats of the Gold Tiara are scheduled for March 16 while the Gold Crown heats follow closely on March 18.

Tonight, the Bathurst Harness Racing Club hosts a two-year-old race, after Menangle ran this season’s first for the youngsters yesterday.

Just one of the nine runners has faced the starter under race conditions and while the others have all been to the trials, it will come down to how they handle the bigger occasion on race night.

For punters, the trial form will be their best guide, although Oberon trainer David Reynolds will travel into Bathurst tonight with high hopes for his gelding Satellite Simba.

Drawn well in gate two, Satellite Simba will be driven by David’s son Justin, who has been handling the horse since he was broken-in.

The son of top producing sire For A Reason has had two trials in preparation for tonight, with his most recent one resulting in a third placing, beaten by just over a metre and David could not be happier with his charge going into the race.

“He is a nicely-gaited horse with his fair share of ability,” said Reynolds.

“Tonight’s race will certainly give us a guide to where he is at mentally, but physically I could not have him any better.

“If he knuckles down to the task, I think he will be right in the race.

“Justin gets on with the horse and is driving well, which gives me some confidence.”

Graham Betts and his wife Monica have four runners in the race while Bernie Hewitt has two.

The focus in the coming weeks will be on Bathurst leading into their Gold Crown Carnival.

It is the nursery for young horses in the state and already several two year old trials have been run at the first-class facility.

To view the fields for Bathurst on Wednesday night click here.

By Michael Dumesny for HRNSW