Sale Turf Club was bathed in sunshine for Wednesday’s meeting, hopefully in an omen to the Sale Cup later this month.
The resurfaced track showed its absolute capability, as it was still graded a Good 4 despite more than 150 millimetres of rain falling the week prior.
Greenwattle Racecourse saw an eight-card meeting highlighted by a number of remarkably close finishes.
The meeting started with a cracking climax to the Race 1 Sale Cup Sunday 29th October Maiden Plate over 1110 metres.
Chargenlikapluma scrapped in by a nose in front of Hurricane Ketut, giving Flemington trainer Simon Zahra a first-up win.
Things were even closer in the Race 2 Ladbrokes Racing Club 3YO Maiden Plate (1423m), with three horses vying for pole position.
As they crossed the winning post, not even the race caller could determine who finished where, and punters were forced to sweat on a nervy wait for the final verdict to come through.
In the end, Big Swan hit the line first, literally millimetres in front of Mohnar and crowd favourite Shooter McGavin.
Shooter McGavin was ridden by Trafalgar jockey Jason Maskiell and trained by Bairnsdale’s Jackson Pallot.
Race 3 returned an incredible story.
The Growmaster Sale 4YO Maiden Plate (1423m) was won by Labhuku, trained by Pakenham’s Gemma Rielly.
Rielly is also a reporter with Racing.com, and was working at Sale Turf Club at the time of the race.
Entering the mounting yard postrace, one jockey joked about a “conflict of interest”, while Rielly herself faced the bizarre situation of interviewing winning jockey Carleen Hefel about her own horse.
Labhuku did it relatively easy in the end, winning by a length from Mr Trafficanti, who was ridden by Beau Mertens, son of the late, great Peter Mertens.
The Group 1 winning jockey was known as the ‘King of Gippsland’, and had a great affinity with Sale, ridding three Sale Cup winners.
The Race 4 Middle of Everywhere Maiden Plate (1710m) was a runaway win for Dulcet, giving Mertens a win.
Race 5 was closer, as Red Dates sat in between Ledecky’s Dream and Everglade, handing Flemington’s Leon and Troy Corstens victory in the Higgins Machinery and Mechanical Services BM64 (1210m).
Race of the day came in Race 6, and saw locals both salute and place.
The No 1 Car Wash/Coffee Pit BM64 Handicap (1423m) went right down to the wire, with as many as nine horses making up the final frame.
Aria Electra for Moe’s Peter Gelagotis stretched just at the last second to take the win from High Done, also trained in Moe by Paul and Tracey Templeton.
The penultimate race, the Growmaster Sale – The Valley Sprinters Cup Series Heat 2 BM64 (1110m) was left with just seven runners after five scratchings.
Over Boost got up by half-a-length, giving the six-year-old gelding its second win since being freshened in late June.
Rounding out the meeting was Cadmus, who won the Race 9 Ladbroke It! BM64 Handicap (1740m), completing a riding double for Metens.
Attention now turns to the Gippsland country cups, with the first to be run in Moe next Friday.
Rielly is this year’s Moe Cup ambassador, and will have runners featuring on the day.
Sale is next on the list, and Sale Turf Club is busy gearing up for its marquee day on Sunday, October 29.
