By Duane Ranger
Saturday night’s Remembering Sovereign Cloud Open winner, Watch Pulp Fiction, will now head to New South Wales to take on that State’s best pacers.
Trainer/driver, Chantal Turpin said her husband Peter (McMullen), would head south with the gutsy Art Major gelding on February 13 - with the Group One $100,000 Newcastle Mile on February 21 the main goal.
“Pete likes driving down south, especially Menangle. He is taking seven horses down there. We are hoping that Watch Pulp Fiction and Mattgregor will be accepted for the Newcastle Mile.
“I will stay back here and be ‘Mum’, and while Peter is away there’s a nice trotting series being staged at Albion Park, and I will line up Majestic Simon there,” Turpin said.
Watch Pulp Fiction recorded his quickest mile rate of 1:51.1 when notching up his 24th win in 95 starts on Saturday. The 8-year-old has also placed 23 times and banked $275,917.
The talented son of Art Major and Turpin sat in behind the pace-making Zahven Banner, and then when the passing lane presented itself Watch Pulp Fiction simply had too much sprint for the current Queensland Harness Horse of the Year.
“We got the sit and the favourite had to do it tough, but I was really pleased with the way he accelerated in the straight. He still has a few issues, but we will keep racing him here every couple of weeks leading into the bigger races later in the season,” Turpin said.
“He’s an old horse who can jar up and that’s why we space his races,” she added.
Turpin was also one of three women that provided a $600 highlight on Saturday night.
The 28-year-old Patrick Estate horsewoman was one of three drivers who saluted the judge - and in doing so raised $600 for Team Teal and Ovarian Cancer.
Narissa McMullen won behind the Cristina Monte trained I’m Major Harry in race four, and then three races later Lola Weidemann trained and drove He’s Novak to win race seven.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to raise money for such a great cause. I just hope that the girls and I can keep stacking up those wins.
“I was proud to win for the cause and will be going all out to raise as much money as I can, because we all know someone out there who has cancer,” Turpin said.
Another highlight on Saturday night was the performance of Tambourine Mountain reinsman, Nathan Dawson.
After driving four winners at ‘The Creek’ seven days earlier, the brilliant reinsman bagged himself a hatrick on Saturday with wins behind Casino Tommy (R1), Random Task (R3), and Springbank Eden (R9).
Dawson trained Casino Tommy to win on both Saturdays, while champion Redcliffe trainer, Donny Smith conditioned the latter two.
“It’s been a good couple of weeks in the sulky, and I just want to keep winning more races for the faithful owners and trainers who put me behind their horses.
“All three of them went well tonight. I thought Random Task would go close,” said Dawson who predicted exactly that on Racing Queensland TV after he won race one behind ‘Tommy’.
Meanwhile, Trista Dixon might have finished a 1.4 metre-second behind the feature winner on Colt Thirty One in Saturday’s feature event, but her husband, Grant, managed to go one better at Tabcorp Park, Menangle behind Fame Assured.
It was the 5-year-old Mach Three mare’s 19th win in 46 starts. She has also placed 11 times and amassed $181,823 in stakes.
Her time of 1:50.8 was a personal best on the big, roomy Sydney track. Her sectionals for the mobile mile (1,609m) were 27.3, 29.3, 27.5, and a slashing 26.7.
The Dixon trained and driven bay got the chocolates by half a head. She is owned by Kevin and Kay Seymour of Solid Earth Pty Ltd.