AMAZING SPIRIT TAKES OUT TOM HEWITT MEMORIAL

Thursday afternoon’s $7,000 final of the Tom Hewitt Memorial was taken out in impressive fashion by the Michael Hardy trained Amazing Spirit.  From the second row draw, the 4yo mare was eased back towards the rear of the field whilst the Bernie Hewitt trained Kennedy Creek, who surprisingly started favourite, took up the running. 

Passing the 800m and with the first half put behind them in a moderate 63.8 seconds the backmarkers commenced their moves.  Lombo Nakamura was the first to move tracked up in turn by Inuit Lady and the second favourite Amazing Spirit who was three back.  At the 400m mark Kennedy Creek was headed by King Kokoda and Lombo Nakamura; Inuit Lady had moved 4 wide and as the field reached the 250m mark Amazing Spirit unleashed a sizzling sprint that saw her sprint clear of the field and go on to score an easy win over the fast finishing Nicola Jaccka with the David Hewitt trained Annas Ace an unlucky third.  The Kenny Hewitt owned mare was driven by Tom’s grandson Samuel Hewitt who wore his grandfather’s well known colours.

The official winning margin was 2.5 metres with the mile rate 2:03.2.  Following the event winning connections were presented with a handsome clock sponsored by the Hewitt family and a horse rug sponsored by Duncombe & Co of Crookwell.

Immediately following the winner’s presentation and in line with the Crookwell theme veteran trainer Aubrey Frost was acknowledged for his contribution to harness racing in New South Wales.  Mr Robert Allport on behalf of the Goulburn Harness Racing Club presented Aubrey with a framed photograph.  Aubrey has been training harness horses in Crookwell since 1951 and his continued involvement is recognised and appreciated by the broader harness racing community.

The afternoon of racing also saw a winning double for Scott Hewitt who drove Kimberly Street and Cullens Princess to victories in the last two races of the day.

In the $5,000 Crookwell Veterinary Hospital Pace Kimberly Street surged to the front from the start and in a confident drive outclassed her opposition to score an easy win from Finn and Bylong Astar. 

Owned by Damon and Sallyanne Allport, the David Hewitt trained mare started at the luxurious price of $8.20.

In the last race of the day Scott drove Cullen’s Princess for his father and the mare turned in a very impressive performance.  Eased back at the start she did all the bullocking work as she led the three wide line down the back straight.  Passing the 400m mark she headed the leader Street Safe and Sorry I Aint to break away and score a very good win over Leading Judge and Woodybegood.

The mile rate was a solid 2:02.8 and the winning margin 3.1 metres.

The Goulburn Harness Racing club would like to acknowledge and thank the Crookwell Businesses who so generously supported the meeting, namely Top Water Carters, Crookwell Veterinary Hospital, Crookwell combined businesses (Spackman Motors, Davies Newsagency, Crookwell Hire, Crookwell Hotel Motel & Crookwell IGA) along with JD’s Rural Supplies who provided the feed raffle and Duncombe & Co who sponsored the winners rug for the feature race.

The final meeting for this season will be held on Thursday the 27^th May and the Goulburn Harness Racing Club thanks all the Crookwell harness fans who have attended the course and helped make the meetings successful.