Western District trainers capture Four Winners at Donald today
Western District trainers enjoyed a successful day at Donald this afternoon winning four of the seven races on the card.
Terry Kelly (Coghills Creek) took out the first race on the card with Fortrus Dancer, Barry & Glen James (Ballarat) scored a double with Betcher in the second and Bank Notes in the sixth, while Joshua Julius (Warrnambool) chimed in with Irksome in the last.
Fortrus Dancer, a Starcraft mare, was having just her fourth start for Kelly when she proved too good in the Watchem Hotel Maiden Plate (1350m).
Nikita Berriman rode the 4yo to victory over Westbury Road and Tuscan Paddy in a time of 1:21.99 for the trip.
Bernandini 3yo Betcher put the writing on the wall for the James stable at his previous Bendigo start when leading most of the way before finishing less then three lengths from the winner.
The gelding put it all together for jockey Kevin Forrester at Donald when having just his fourth start, winning the A.G. Ryan Transport Maiden Plate (1000m) by a narrow margin on the line from Hardspun Belle and Shufetish in a time of 0:57.92.
Barry & Glen James and Kevin Forrester combined again to bring up their second winner for the day when New Approach gelding Bank Notes captured the the ClassicBet.com.au BM64 Handicap (1350m).
It was the second win from eight starts for the four-year-old and he scored by 0.2L from De Mars and Unbelievable Buy in a time of 1:20.25.
Warrnambool trainer Joshua Julius (pictured) produced Irksome to score his second win from five starts in the last race at Donald to make it a winning day for Western District trainers.
The Shinzig 5yo finished well under the guidance of Dean Yendall to win the Watchem, Corack, Birchip Cup BM64 Handicap (1600m) from Be Tolerant and Oakford Lass in a time of 1:39.18.
