AS THE field in the Shannon Springs Pace (1730 metres) charged down the home straight at the Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday night, January 4, a group of vocal spectators yelled out “come on Holly”.
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Seconds later they were screaming in delight as the Holly Newson-driven Sky Falcon was declared the victor.
It was the first win of Newson’s driving career and her smile was as big as any that has been witnessed at the Bathurst track.
That the win came on a $19.70 outsider who had not saluted since April for Oberon trainer Wade Judd made it even better.
“I want to thank Wade for the drive. He’s been giving me a few really good drives on this horse and he’s been getting better and better,” Newson, who had two prior starts with Sky Falcon, said.
“We were discussing that we were going to drive him a bit more aggressive, we had a change of tactics, so that was the plan.”
Against a field which included runners with Group experience in the evening’s fast class race, Newson showed that aggressive intent early.
Sky Falcon come out well from barrier one to take the lead, but another Oberon runner in Wayne Watterson’s A Mighty Storm punched on after going from gate seven and managed to cross.
Newson positioned herself on the leader’s back while Haka Shannon rolled up on her outside as they came around for the bell to provide cover.
Behind Newson, Amanda Turnbull found herself in a tougher position with $3.70 favourite Dillon.
He found himself stuck four markers with a lap to travel as he chased his third consecutive victory.
After covering the first half of the last mile in 60 seconds, A Mighty Storm enjoyed a lead of three-quarters of a length over Haka Shannon.
Watterson urged his runner to lift the tempo through a 28.4 seconds third split, but Newson stuck on the back on the leader and waited for the sprint lane.
As they balanced in the home straight, Sky Falcon began to make up ground and with 100m to go, had the lead.
But it was not yet job done.
Both Black Poles ($11.40, Bernie Hewitt) and Beetson ($5.50, Joe Taaffe) were on the charge and rapidly reeling in Sky Falcon.
In the end, Sky Falcon held on to win by 1½m in a 1:57.2 mile rate, the seven-year-old Falcon Seelster x Sky Beauty gelding taking his career record to 12 victories from 63 starts.
“I was hoping he did [win] … he felt really good coming to the line,” Newson said.
Second place belonged to Black Poles, who finished a neck ahead of Beetson.
Meanwhile, The Lagoon’s Nathan Turnbull had an enjoyable evening as well as Sams The Master won the Reliance Pace by 19m.
