Not to be outdone by his brother Clark who trained two winners, Tony Barron also added two wins to his seasons tally in the form of A Damn Good Excuse and Macy Blue Chip.
Yesterday’s win by Macy Blue Chip was the fourth and biggest for stable junior driver Maruia Parker.
The mare is raced by the Gold Chip Syndicate who are primarily based in Oamaru.
Macy Blue Chip started from the outside of the second row in the Kina Craig Stud Southern Belle Speed Series Mobile Pace and Barron wasn’t overly confident about finishing in the money from that draw.
With Picobello, BD Windermere and favourite Motu Moonbeam sprinting hard out of the gate and Sweet As and Backseat Chick breaking shortly after the start the field open up for Parker. She managed to get onto the back of a progressing Leigh Major and with a lap to run was in the one one but some distance off the pace.
With Motu Moonbeam starting to feel the pinch at the 400, Parker had Macy Blue Chip off the back of Leigh Major and moved three wide before the straight. Shortly after coming out of the last bend the pair had hit the lead and held on to beat the late charging Annajodi by a head.
Macy Blue Chip’s time of 2-02.8 (1-56.2) was just outside of Raksdeal’s track record for mares of 2-01.4.
The five year old Santanna Blue Chip mare is out of the two win Riverboat King mare Macy Belle.
Her son Will I Am finished second in race eleven yesterday.
“Ru (Maruia Parker) drove her a treat. She found a place for the mare and she finished it off nicely,” said Barron.
It was Parker's sixth drive behind the mare and she's recorded three wins, two seconds and a ninth.
She's only been at the Barron stable this season and the junior reinswoman has impressed the Makarewa trainer.
“She deserves a real good chance. She’s got a great set of hands on her and they seem to run for her. There are horses like Heretic Franco that will get on the job for Nathan (Williamson) and Dexter (Dunn) but they don’t pull for her.”
Having Macy Blue Chip in the stable at this time of the season has been a bit of a bonus for both trainer and owners.
“She was supposed to be sold but the money didn’t come through and she’s won two races since. She’s owned by a few boys in Oamaru so I’ll probably take her up there for the grass meeting next Thursday. It’s the Oamaru Cup and the mares get a 10 metre concession, so she’ll start off the front.”
Early in the day A Damn Good Excuse impressed with an easy win in the Shane Matheson Crutching/Mark Jones Racing Stables Mobile Pace.
Driver Dexter Dunn took the Live Or Die mare straight to the top and she stayed there to beat Dissolution by four and a half lengths.
A Damn Good Excuse’s winning time was 2-41-3 – a mile rate of 1-57.9 which will add value to the mare's breeding potential.
“She’s actually a pretty nice mare which hasn’t had a lot of luck recently."
"We put her in a stand at Roxburgh and she played up that day. After that she went super and Dexter was rapt with her so he was pretty keen to retain the drive. She drew a marble (good barrier) today. Apart from a couple of times, she’s draw seven or worst.”
The front was the right place for the four year old mare to be from yesterday's barrier two.
“She’s a very good mare especially when she can get to the front.”
Bruce Stewart – Southland Harness Racing