That’s a wrap at Central Wheatbelt HRC for 2024

Sunday October 13 rounded out another fabulous season of harness racing at the Central Wheatbelt Harness Racing Club, with the club celebrating their end of year awards at the conclusion of their 11-meeting season.

After celebrating their milestone 100 years of racing just weeks earlier on Sunday September 22, Kellerberrin hosted a further two meetings to conclude their round, which saw Northam based trainer Lang Inwood walk away with an array of awards on the day.

The 45-year-old took out leading trainer at the Central Wheatbelt Harness Racing Club with an impressive 69 starters for 14 wins, 11 seconds, 10 thirds and further 8 fourth placings, with a total of 88 points, giving Inwood a 31-point win over Peter Anderson who finished up the season on 57 points.

It didn’t end there for Lang, with Tux And Tails claiming Leading Club Pacer on 19 points after winning four of his six races at Kellerberrin, placing in second and third at his remaining two starts there.

Tux And Tails finished up in second placing on the day in his event, going down by just a head, but it was enough to keep the crown ahead of the Peter Anderson trained Ellucifer, who finished up in second placing on 16 points after winning two from six races and placing second at the remaining four starts.

Tux And Tails was also crowned the 2022 Horse Of The Year at the Central Wheatbelt Harness Racing Club.

Shes A Mare was a race winner on the day which only further cemented her victory as the 2024 Filly/Mare Of The Year with 15 points, ending the season with three wins, a second and third placing from just six starts.

Inwood was never in any danger for this award, with American Monarch right on her heels on 13 points, and stablemate Eye Better finishing up on 11 points.

They couldn’t split the father and daughter duo for Leading Club Driver, so Shannon and Emily Suvaljko both walked away with the title on Sunday.

Finishing the season on 90 points each, they both celebrated a winner each on the day, with no surprise that both were trained by leading trainer, Lang Inwood.

Shannon Suvaljko had a total of 14 wins, 10 seconds and 14 thirds this season from 66 drives, and Emily had a similar tally with 14 wins, 14 second and 6 thirds from a total of 70 drives.

Taking a look back on their season, The Central Wheatbelt Harness Racing Club opened their season on Sunday, April 21 with six-year-old LocaL Resident claiming his maiden in the opening race.

Sunday the 5th of May they returned to Kellerberrin, with the $8000 S M Elliot Memorial highlighting the program, which saw three-year-old Worlds Above take the feature for Peter Anderson and Shannon Suvaljko.

Meeting three for the season on May 19 saw Sister Cherie NZ take out the $11,000 Shire of Kellerberrin Central Wheatbelt Cup for Ray Williams and Emily Suvaljko

The season was in full swing and just two weeks later they were back and racing, and on June 2 the club hosted not one, but two feature races with the Jock Coleman Memorial Daintys Daughter run and won by the Lang Inwood trained Shes A Mare, driven by Emily Suvaljko.

The following event was the $8000 Cunderdin Cup which went the way of American Cruise NZ for Sonia Zucchiatti and daughter Deni Roberts.

June 16, their fifth meeting in, the club geared up for the $8000 DKT Rural Agencies Kellerberrin Cup which saw Lang Inwood take home another feature, with Eye Better backing up after racing at Gloucester Park just two days earlier, taking home the cup for driver Emily Suvaljko.

The Trayning Cup was up next, which saw Lombo Mitchinson take top prize for Michael Blakemore and Stuart McDonald on Sunday, June 30.

The Club had a short break in their season and returned on Sunday August 18 with eight full fields going around on the day.

The Merredin Cup was run on September 1 which saw Franco Mecca NZ get the win for Matt Scott and Trent Wheeler.

Just three weeks later, their biggest meeting on the card saw the club celebrate big with the 100 years of racing at Kellerberrin a hit amongst the local community and the racing fraternity.

With a big crowd on course, the club boasted memorabilia from the century, as well as plenty of entertainment for everyone to enjoy, including the pony trots and a club’s relay which saw our drivers take top spot in a great spectacle.

The Central Wheatbelt Harness Racing club generously donated $250 to each group that ran.

The North Eastern Districts Cup saw the Cody Wallrodt trained The Beaudster NZ take out the $11,000 feature, with Emily Suvaljko in the cart.

Blaze Away ventured up to Kellerberrin on September 29 and blew them all away with the three-year-old spacing the field by 69.3m in 1:56:4 for Michael Young and Stuart McDonald.

Which leads us to the last meeting, October 13, which saw Trent Wheeler and Donald Harper both walk away with driving doubles and Lang Inwood with a training double before taking out the majority of awards on the day.

Racing will return to the Central Wheatbelt Harness Racing Club on April 13, 2025, with the Kellerberrin & Districts Club Day.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA