Accomplished Goulburn Valley reinsman Damian Wilson had a memorable New Year's Eve at the ever-popular Albury harness racing meeting.
Wilson, based at Byrneside, 20 kms west of Shepparton, had a one hundred percent strike rate with five winners from five drives at the venue, which is proving to be a happy hunting ground.
"I thought I really had one standout chance, while another two looked to be well in it with a bit of luck. But everything just kept falling into place and the end result was fantastic," Wilson said.
"I've never landed five winners on the same program before-my previous best would be four. And that was a while ago at Albury as well," he said.
"It's only a little over two hours to drive up there to compete. I really enjoy it because the people involved with the club are great and appreciate us supporting the meetings."
Wilson said he didn't do much celebrating after posting the career-high five winners.
"I had to get home because I had a few that needed to be worked the following morning and I was racing at Echuca that night," he said.
Apart from training and driving two winners at Albury for himself, Wilson also landed a double for close friend and trainer David Farrar. His other victory was for another Sheppparton horseman, Darryl Hill.
The Wilson-trained pair were Feeling The Love (Mr Feelgood-Summer Eyes (Ok Bye) and Winkn Nod (Grinfromeartoear-Mull Of Kintire (Chandon). Horses from the Farrar stable to win were Hayjoshandco (Grinfromeartoear-Our Pocket Princess (In The Pocket) and Nationaldraft (Modern Art-Laura Cloe (Iraklis), while Hill cheered home Our Summer Bay (Metropolitan-Bye The Deep South (Ok Bye).
Feeling The Love
Winkn Nod
Hayjoshandco
Nationaldraft
Our Summer Bay
There's no doubt that Wilson deserves any success that may come his way, with the ups and downs he's had over several decades in the sport.
He suffered a broken tibia and fibula along with a severe laceration to his calf in a spectacular fall at the 2012 Kilmore Cup meeting in late October.
Two others drivers in Scott Dyer and George Batsakis also suffered serious injuries.
On the flip side, Wilson has a Kilmore Cup victory to his name after combining with Ohoka Nevada. He also dead-heated in a Cranbourne Cup and has claimed many feature events such as Sires Stakes Finals and other country cups in his career.
Wilson said providing there were suitable races for his horses to compete at Albury, he would continue to compete there.
"I'm actually off to Leeton next week which is about 200 kms on from Albury," he said.
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura