They were the first training partnership in New South Wales and now husband and wife harness racing duo Joe and Mary Rando has achieved another milestone.
The pair reached 100 wins at Tabcorp Park Menangle tonight, since their official partnership began in the 2015/16 season, thanks to Empire Bay taking out the Bulli Trotters Cup.
This race has a lot of significance for the Rando team.
They won in 2018 edition with the ill-fated Sundons Comet when the feature was a Group 2, giving them their first Group success with a trotter.
Having won Group races with pacers prior, the trotting gait has certainly been profitable for the Randos, adding to their century of wins together.
āIt was very exciting,ā said Mary.
āWe hit 99 wins during the week after Do Ball won at Menangle and usually when you know you have a milestone nearing, it feels like forever until you achieve it.
āIn saying that, I was confident Empire Bay would go well tonight. He was well handicapped off 10m and has been a victim of circumstances in his recent runs, so he has been going better than what his form reads.
āChris Geary (driver) has really found his rhythm with this horse and it all paid off tonight.ā
Geary provided Joe and Mary with their first win as a partnership when guiding Bee Arr Dee to victory at Menangle on May 10, 2016, just two days out from being the exact day five years ago.
Tonight Geary eased Empire Bay away from the tapes while the tempo upfront was slick in the 2300m stand with a lead time of 52.1 seconds.
As the first two quarters were run in 30.4 and 32.3 seconds, Geary flushed out Jack Callaghan on Garland Greene when heading into the back straight for the final time to land the one-one.
This proved to be the winning move, with Geary angling Empire Bay into clear running at the top of the home straight where he sprinted the final quarter in 28.5 seconds to beat the favourite Gimondi by more than six metres.
The mile rate was 2:00.0.
Bred and raced by Michael Taylor, Empire Bay extended his record to 24 wins and 27 placings in 106 starts and earnings ofĀ $247,341.
The seven-year-old gelding is byĀ The PresĀ out of theĀ MonarchyĀ mare Miss Adelade.
Watch the replay below:
By Amanda Rando for Harnesslink