Matthews, a longtime harness racing enthusiast, has owned standardbreds for several decades. He is part of the five-strong Falcon Ball Syndicate which owns the daughter of Presidential Ball and Easy Falcon (Falcon Seelster). The other owners are Thames-based Mike Kane and his two Auckland-based sons, Paul and Daryl.

"It was Mike's first win so it doesn't get any better than this. We are going to have a good night," said Mathews, who rated the Geoff Small trained Maheer Skipper (five wins) as the best horse he has owned.

It took the Tony Herlihy trained and driven Endangered Species seven starts to break through for her first win tonight, after recording three placings previously. She paced the 2200m mobile in 2:47.9 (mile rate: 2:02.8) with final 800m and 400m sectionals of 57.6 and 28.9 seconds. All My Dreamz (Nicole Molander) and Noblesse Royal (Philip Butcher) were second and third a neck and one-and-a-half lengths away.

Mathews said he has had horses with Herlihy previously, the best being Christian Cullen mare Culley's Assett, who had her career cut short after just three races in 2007-2008.

"Tony picked this one out for us at the yearling sales. We paid $15,000 and bought her on Tony's advice. He's a big fan of Presidential Ball fillies and this one is proving to be alright," Mathews said.

The Kane brothers were just rapt to see their filly do the business on the racetrack.

"It's been a long wait since we first got her, but after tonight's it's been worth it. She seems quite a nice filly. She's capped off a great night," Paul said.

His father agreed.

"She's a nice horse alright. I went down to the Harness Jewels this year. I know it's a long way away but that would be a dream to have a horse line up on a big day like that. I had a fantastic time. I hope she kicks on," Mike said.

Endangered Species has now more than halved her purchase price with tonight's tough win. She now has $8277 in the bank, and going on tonight's victory it won't be her last.

Results from the first six races from the Franklin Trotting Club's meeting at Alexandra Park tonight (Friday) were:

Race 1: The Richard Brosnan trained and driven Baltic Warrior.

Race 2: The Tony Barron trained Deadly Tana (Matthew White)

Race 3: The James Stormont trained and driven Galleons Enforcer.

Race 4: The Tony Herlihy trained and driven Endangered Species.

Race 5: The Kevin Judson trained Day In Calcutta (Simon Lawson).

Race 6: The Steven Reid and Graeme Rogerson trained Strike Up The Band (Steven Reid).

Extensive results

Duane RANGER (editor)