Horse Racing
29 January, 2026
Lewises celebrate best form
Horsham/Hamilton breeders and owners the Lewis family celebrated a victory at Melton last Friday afternoon when five-year-old gelding Browniesatmidnight showed his best in the $15,000 Benstud Standardbreds Pace.
Drawn gate seven on the front line over the 2240m journey, driver Glen Craven was caught three wide with a trail early, then elected to press forward to sit outside the leader TimBimBoo (Kate Gath) with a lap and a half to go.
The leaders broke away from the pack at the 400m to have the race between them at the top of the home straight.
"Brownie" found plenty over the final stages to score by 3.5m in a rate of 1:56.3.
Team Lewis bred the gelding from their former smart mare Mistressofillusion (8 wins), which has also produced Isthisjustfantasy (12 wins and $125,00), which finished a brave third in the Make Mine Cullen at Ballarat on Saturday night.
The Great Western training team of Michelle and Craig Wight enjoyed deserved success at Wedderburn on Sunday afternoon with their consistent 6yo mare Nosweetsforyou.
Drawn barrier four over the sprint trip of 1750m, Michelle pushed Nosweetsforyou forward at the green light to land in the spot outside the leader City Rockstar, with Chris Alford aboard.
Forced then to do it tough in the death, at the 300m Michelle was driving hard and her charge seemed under pressure.
At the top of the straight they were four abreast for the final charge to the post and with just 100m to go, Nugget Rogers (Brent Murphy) looked to have it in the bag but immediately broke gait and out of the reckoning.
Nosweetsforyou fought back bravely in the middle to steal the result by a short half head from Sportsbou (Michael Bellman) in a rate of 1:56.1 – her ninth career victory, with 22 minors from 89 starts.
While all eyes were on the champion Leap To Fame as he cruised to the finish some 12m clear of his rivals in the $100,000 Woodlands Stud Ballarat Pacing Cup on Saturday night, supporters of the Aaron Dunn stable were over the moon with the performances of his rank outsiders Dee Roe and Forty Love.
With less than a length separating second to fourth across the line, the judge called for a photo which showed 150/1 chance Dee Roe (Jackie Barker) in second place and 100/1 pop Forty Love (Aaon Dunn) third.
The duo came from the tail of the field at the bell to collect cheques of $15,000 and $10,000 respectively – a great result for the blue, yellow and white colours.
Leap To Fame carved 0.4 seconds off the track record with a rate of 1:54.4 for the 2710m.
After the race Dunn spoke with Adam Hamilton for HRV-HRA Media.
Dunn said he was thrilled when the pair ran second and third respectively to champion pacer Leap To Fame in track record time in the cup.
“It didn’t totally surprise me but it was fantastic to have them both run so well,” he said.
“They’ve both been racing really well, albeit they’re quite different horses.
"Dee Roe has more point to point speed while Forty Love enjoys rolling along, so the hot pace suited him at Ballarat.”
The effort of Forty Love has him likely to line up in the prestigious Group 1 $250,000 Hunter Cup on at Melton on February 14.
“You’ve got to have a crack after a run like that,” Dunn said.
“I’m keen to give him a crack at the Chariots Of Fire (at Menangle) but it probably makes more sense to go to the Hunter Cup and then try and get our way into the Chariots through one of the qualifying races at Menangle.
“If that means going to Sydney earlier to give him that chance, then I’ll do that.”
Horsham-based reinsman Ryan Backhouse has kicked off the new season in fine style, landing eight wins from 35 drives in January.
The 20-year-old concession driver landed a quartet at Gawler a couple of weeks ago and followed up with three in a row at Mildura on Friday night.
His winning streak continued on Monday night at Terang when he took out the AJ&M Automotive Pace with four-year-old gelding Lewielewis for his boss, Horsham trainer Aaron Dunn, and not long after landed another with five-year-old mare The Naked Art in the Lee Contracting Pace for trainer Justin Lane and owners the Carberry and Brooksby families.
All going well, Backhouse should notch up his 200th win milestone in a month or so as he currently sits on a career tally of 189.
Kooreh (St Arnaud district) brothers Shaun and Jason McNaulty have done a great job with the five-year-old mare Into The Harkness since taking her on as a 15-start maiden in August 2024.
Her large group of new part-owners have since been rewarded with seven wins and four minor placings from 22 starts in the McNaulty silks.
Into The Harkness' latest success came on Sunday at Wedderburn in the $6000 Kirk Family Memorial Pace.
Driver James Herbertson made the most of her early toe, crossing straight to the pegs from gate three at the start of the 2150m contest.
From that point on, punters who'd supported the even-money favourite always had the cash in their keeping and the mare strolled home to score by 13m in a rate of 1:57.6.
They're off at Charlton (D) on Monday February 2; Mt Gambier (N) on Tuesday February 3; Stawell (D) on Monday February 9 and Terang (N) on Friday February 13.