Tiger Royal claims the Peter Dempster Memorial

Handy type Tiger Royal NZ (Sweet Lou) took out the harness racing feature on Saturday night at Northam, the Peter Dempster Memorial over the 2630m, after coming from behind to win impressively in 1:59:9.

Trained by Ryan Bell and driven by Kyle Symington, the five-year-old started as the $2.15 favourite and after beginning from barrier 8 initially found himself in the one-out-one-back position, but with over a lap and a half to go was in the one-out-two-back position, with Symington making his move three wide with around 300m to go to win by 3.9m.

“He is a nice honest horse who is always going to earn when he has economical trips like that,

“He will win races in the city with the speed that he has.” Bell said.

Peter Dempster played a massive part at the Northam Harness Racing Club, as President of the club from 2000-2013, sadly passing away in December 2012, with his stint of presidency ending the following season.

TIGER ROYAL REPLAY

Dempster, an avid harness racing fan lived in Grass Valley with his family, training a few horses, with his son Anthony helping out before he tragically died in an accident in 1996. Peter’s wife Sabina sadly passed away in early 2019, but his daughter Amy and Milly were on track on Saturday night to present the trophy in honour of their dad. This year’s memorial was the 10th year they’ve honoured the club’s stalwart.

Other winners on the night include Heez A Vibe taking out the opener, the 2YO over the 1780m, with the youngster claiming his first win at just his second start in a race. Purchased by Kody Charles and Brittani Triplett as a package deal with his dam, the two-year-old started as the $1.38 favourite, leading all the way to win by 2.5m in 1:58:9, giving trainer Ryan Bell the first instalment of his training double of the night, and the first of three winners for Kyle Symington in the cart.

“We bought her from NSW, from Redbank Lodge Standardbreds,

“She is an Art Major Mare who I’m a massive fan of and she has a great page being a full sister to Lettucerockthem who’s had 49 wins for stakes of $1,042,176 and a half sister to Lettucerocku who won 47 races for stakes of $662,610,

“We have a good opinion of him (Heez A Vibe) but he has a few quirks that have kept Ryan and Tiffany on their toes.  He was impressive on Saturday, may have one more run before he heads to the paddock for a short let up.” Part-owner Kody Charles said.

Nathan Turvey trained and reined the winner of race two, Franco Western, after doing plenty of work to pass the post first in 1:59:2 over the 1780m journey. Turvey walked away with a training and driving double, with newcomer to the state (and country) My Little Big Man NZ claiming his maiden win in the last after making the move over from New Zealand.

It was another win for Team Teal, with Lukes Mistake getting the win in race three for Emily Suvaljko in the cart. The three-year-old, trained by Peter Tilbrook started ads the $1.18 favourite, leading all the way from barrier three over the 2190m trip.

Have truck, will travel, Adrian Shanks made the trip up from Albany on Saturday night and was rewarded for his efforts with Rockandrollartist taking out the fourth on the card. Driven by Trent Wheeler, the pair started off the second line, and with the front runner kicking away, Wheeler was soon into the breeze position, taking the lead with 700m to go to win by 2.5m in 1:58:4 over the 1780m.

The third leg of Symington’s treble came up in race six, with Acuto NZ overcoming the 40m handicap to win by 1.6m in 1:59:9 for trainer Chris Phatouros.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA