Maitland father and son Darren and Brad Elder had a night out at the Tamworth harness racing meeting on Wednesday night.
Darren Elder picked up a training double, and drove one winner, whilst son Brad drove three winners.
Brad picked up his first win for the night behind last start winner Anna Bay Al -trained by Jarred Hetherington – in the Thankyou To Our 2017 Volunteer Pace.
Anna Bay Al commenced from the 11 barrier but showed some blistering speed to take out the 1980m race.
“Jarred always said he can come with that one run,” Elder said.
“I took off at the half and put a bit of a gap on them – maybe he would have gone further if I had pulled the plugs.”
After sitting at the tail of the field Elder set the eight-year-old gelding the task of sprinting around the field three wide before the bell sounded.
Up the back straight on the final occasion Elder was cruising.
“He really did it too easy so he should be winning a few more races up here – Jarred has got him flying,” he added.
Anna Bay Al had a 34m win over Risky Buziness (Courtney Sutherland) with Deucestar (Andrew Bourke) a neck away third.
Elder then came out in the following event to take the reins behind Red Rocker for Queensland trainer Ricky Gordon in The Pub Group Gold Nugget January 17 Pace.
“The second quarter was the best thing for us – it sorted most of them out,” he said.
“That was our chance to get into the race.”
With Campbell Best (Tom Ison) and Quincy Storm (Paul Grima) locked in a duel out in the lead Elder had to give chase as the bell sounded.
The second quarter in the 1980m event was contested in 28.7 seconds.
“Down the back he went past them like they were standing still,” Elder said.
“I tried to get around the other horse (Quincy Storm) before the corner but he (Red Rocker) powered away in the end.”
Red Rocker had a 9m win over Mac Sweet (Lola Weidemann) with Olympic Wonder (Dean Chapple) another 5m away third.
Elder then had his last win for the night in taking out the Happy New Year From Tamworth Pace with Justajolt.
Trained by his father Darren, Justajolt had a 2m win over Pure Laughter (Danny Mackney) with Dalacos Empress 24m away third.
Darren enjoyed a training double for the night with Justajolt and later Sevens Dollar breaking thru for their first career wins.
“My daughter Melanie has been working him and she told us to keep him going,” he said of Justajolt.
Darren also drove Sevens Dollar and had success with the Dam – Second Dollar, who had 20 career wins and 17 placings amassing $222,760 dollars in prizemoney.
Second Dollar is owned by the Gardner family at Gunnedah who also bred and race Sevens Dollar.
“It has been a pretty good ride for us all,” Elder, who also trained and drove Second Dollar in her races, said.
“This one (Sevens Dollar) is showing some promise.”
“She has got all the writing on the wall to be a good one.”
“The mother was exceptional and we have got our fingers crossed that she will turn out the same – she had speed and strength – she was unreal.”
At only her fourth career start, Sevens Dollar raced three wide for a full lap before pulling away from the field in the home straight for a 20m win over The Love Bandit, who was driven by son Brad.
Wanderin Man (Lola Weidemann) was third another half neck away
“I was pretty confident even though I was wide – that is one thing she has picked up from her mother is a little bit of toughness,” Elder said.
He also also happy that he gained a win over his son in the race.
“Showed him how it is done,” Elder senior joked.
“I get pushed to the back now as Brad is doing so well – he has about 400 drives a year and now I’m struggling to get two a month.”
Sevens Dollar will be another contender pencilled in for the upcoming Starmaker heat and final series at Tamworth in January.