The second heat of the Bathurst RSL Club Series proved to be the strong one with the top three also finishing as the top three in the final at Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday night.
Seven days earlier at Parkes it was Steve Turnbull and Not So Bad Lea that snatched the win with Doug Lee bringing Badgers Belle home in second and Rolmeo third.
However it was Jason Turnbull in the gig of Badgers Belle who was able to grab the win in the $6000 final.
Turnbull was able to keep the five-year-old Ramsey Hanover x Country Elegance mare in the mix for the entire 2130 metres before pouncing on the home straight to snatch the win from Not So Bad Lea.
Not So Bad Lea started as $2.10 favourite for the race with punters also considering Rosewood Life ($5.10) and Badgers Belle ($7.10) to be good chances.
However, it was Handshake Harry ($29.10) who got the best start with driver Anthony Frisby looking to overcome the barrier seven start by moving across to lead with Not So Bad Lea settling into second and Curly Shannon ($56.00) in third.
Handshake Harry set a swift lead time of 37.3 seconds and he continued that pace as he built up a lead of two lengths as the nine horses travelled in single file along the back straight.
The Stature x Herway Of Thinking horse completed the first quarter in 31.3 as Not So Bad Lea and Badgers Belle began to move off the pegs.
Rolmeo ($15.10) was back in last as Handshake Harry covered the second quarter in 32.6 but trainer-driver Philip Turner made his move in the second half.
Not So Bad Lea also began to move forward and narrowed the gap to Handshake Harry to a neck before taking the lead as they passed the three-quarter mark in 30.5.
Frisby couldn’t keep Handshake Harry and dropped to the back going as Badgers Belle moved through to sit in second behind Not So Bad Lea.
As they came around the final turn, it came down to a head-to-head race between the two but it was Badgers Belle that was able to stride away for victory in a mile rate of 2:02.8.
She finished two lengths ahead of Not So Bad Lea with Rolmeo flying through to finish third 14 metres further back. Handshake Harry faded to finish in eighth while Rosewood Life was a non-finisher after breaking gait at the 500 metre mark.
Jason Turnbull was a happy driver after the race and said he was able to capitalise on the early leaders pushing each other to grab the win.
“From the inside back draw we needed to be close enough and hope for a bit of speed and luckily there was,” he said.
Turnbull said he enjoyed driving for Geoff Lawson and added that getting wins for the Oberon trainer was always rewarding.
“Geoff is the one who put me on just after I started and stuck with me through thick and thin and it’s great to repay his perseverance with my driving and we have had a good run together.”
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