That’s a wrap for Collie in 2024

Another successful Collie harness racing season has come and gone, with the club celebrating four meetings spanning over an eight-week period.

Collie welcomed it’s opening meeting on Sunday, October 6, with the feature of the day, the TABtouch King Coal Cup going the way of Mikipelo for Matt Scott and Kyle Harper.

After taking out the 2023 Collie Cup at just his second start in the state, he quickly became a country cups collector after claiming the 2024 Busselton Cup in January.

Pacing returned to Collie just two weeks later, but the weather was not on their side, with excessive rain the cause of the final race on the card to be abandoned.

The club managed to run seven races throughout the day however, with the $8,0000 John Martin Memorial Feature going the way of Im The Best NZ for Michael Callegari and Trent Wheeler.

A race so special to the Suvaljko family, it was only fitting that the Joe & Margaret Suvaljko Memorial went the way of reinsman Shannon Suvaljko when he piloted Valhalla Miss in the feature for trainer Craig Hynam at the third Collie meet on Sunday November 3.

The $8000 TABtouch Racing WA Westbred Feature run on the same day went the way of father and son Daryl and Mitchell Miller who teamed up with Lucienne who came from the 30m handicap in the feature to win by an impressive 13.1m margin.

The final instalment of their four-meeting calendar saw their biggest race of the season, the $11,000 Bendigo Community Bank Collie Cup go the way of Been Scootin (Betterthancheddar) for Ray Jones and Kyle Harper.

Too good for his rivals, the five-year-old scooted away to win by a 7.5m margin, giving Harper the first leg of his driving double on the day, with Alta Hurrah NZ successful in the next race.

Kyle was the name of the day, with Kyle Symington a last-minute call up on the day, but answering his phone at 8am on Sunday proved plenty fruitful with a driving double on the day on board Hurricanehope and Secret Reaction.

Symington picked up six drives on the day with Mitchell Miller and Shane Steele out.

“I had none, I got Mitchell’s (Miller) in the morning, then Shane (Steele) called me when I was already on my way down.”

The club conducted their Premiership celebrations on the day, with Shannon Suvaljko the Leading Club Driver for 2024.

Despite being suspended for the final meeting, Suvaljko came out on top on 38 points, four points ahead of Kyle Harper who finished in second placing on 34 points for the season.

Kyle Symington only made it down to Collie once this season, but it was enough to secure Leading Club Junior Driver after finishing on 10 points. Joseph Suvaljko finished just behind him on 8 points.

It was a tie for Leading Club Pacer with four horses ending the season on 8 points after two wins throughout the four-card season, but Valhalla Miss took home the crown with fastest winning mile rate being the deciding factor amongst the four horses.

Ti Sento, Valhalla Miss, Hurricane Hope and Keayang Yukon all claimed two races at Collie throughout the season.

It was another close finish for Leading Club Trainer with Peter Anderson taking the crown after finishing the season on 17 points, just 2 points ahead of local trainer Leo Wallrodt who had a dream result on the day with a training double, a family treble with Chalky White getting the win for Karen Wallrodt and a win in the cart on board two-year-old Ti Sento.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA