Payday for father and son at Dubbo

It was a “payday” to remember when four-year-old bay gelding Tearin Up The Sand (Sunshine Beach) broke through for his maiden harness racing victory in regional New South Wales.

Apart from providing teenage reinsman Toby Pay with his first win, Toby’s father Brett, who trains a small team as a hobby, bounced back into the winners’ circle for the first time since 2021.

Seventeen-year-old Toby showed experience way beyond his years to rate Tearin Up The Sand to perfection in taking out the $6936 Western Plains Granite Pace at Dubbo on Friday (June 14).

“I was very happy with the horse. I let him come out of the gate and bowl along because he can be a bit of a puller. He felt really good and certainly deserved the win,” Toby said.

“His last few runs didn’t look great on paper, but he was coming from wide draws and we hardly got any luck at all. He was more suited to the longer race (2120m) too.”

Pay used the gate speed of Tearin Up The Sand to work to an early lead. He then set an even tempo, which made it difficult for any of the runners to make ground from back in the field. The first two quarters of 30 sec apiece, were followed by 30.6 and then 31.4 for a mile rate of a tick over two minutes.

Bridge On Fire mounted a strong challenge from the death seat on home corner and was valiant in defeat, going down by a neck, while a fast finishing Irk McGlurk (Graham Betts) was three metres back in third spot.

Watch the race replays here.

“I thought I’d just lasted. I knew I’d beaten Bridge On Fire (Mat Rue) and I was hoping that something else hadn’t flashed home out wide,” Toby said.

“As we were pulling up after the finish, Mat yelled out congratulations, so that was nice.  I was pretty happy!”

Pay said he could remember following his dad around whenever he was doing something with the horses.

“Probably the earliest I can remember was when I was about five years old. I just love them. I enjoyed playing soccer for a bit, but when I could get my trots driver’s licence, I gave that up,” he said.

Tearin Up the Sand is owned by Brett Pay along with passionate owners Les Thomas, Todd Smith and Jason Linnane.

“They were all excited and they were on the phone and sending a few messages,” Toby said.

“We’ve had the horse since he was a yearling. He’s only had 10 race starts and has had two seconds as well. I’ve driven him in all his races and trials.”

Toby, who is studying Year 12 at school, is undecided what he might do next year.

“I was thinking of Uni, but I might take a gap year and try and get full-time work in a stable. Dad only trains two at the most because he’s busy at work as an area manager of Australian Rail Track Corporation,” he said.

“He used to drive but then when I was born, he wound back a bit before giving up.”

Toby said he didn’t have time to enjoy any celebrations after his first race driving win.

“It was probably about 11 o’clock when I got home from the trots, and I had to get up and work the horses the next morning. I did shout myself some Macca’s on the way home though!” he laughed.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink