Nulkaba trainer Clayton Harmey is eyeing a century of winners for the season after a dominant treble at Newcastle Paceway on Friday night continued his impressive start to 2019-20.
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Kiwi import Fantasize made a stunning debut in Australia, winning by 34.8 metres, while Edie Jaccka made it three in a row since coming from New Zealand. The five-year-old mare won by 22.9m in 1:56:5, which was her fastest time in the hat-trick.
In between those wins, Chevrons Reward broke through after a string of misses, giving driver Blake Hughes and Harmey a treble.
They took Harmey to 40 wins for the season, which is three and a half months old.
Harmey, a premiership-winning driver, has been hampered by serious back injuries from race falls, but he and his team are firing on all cylinders again.
"It was a good night," Harmey said. "We had a big team of 10 in, and nine of them ran in the first four.
"We had 48 winners last season and Saturday night I trained my 40th winner.
"There's a lot of factors. The Kiwi horses help but my back's right now. I'm nearly five months past my operation and it's better than what it used to be.
"I've got Blake at the stables now, we've got a really good team and they all work hard. If you work hard, you get the results.
"I've still got 25 in the stables but now I've got 20 I could take to the races next week.
"I'd love to get to 100 for the season, that would be good, It's only been done by Shane [Tritton]. No one else in the Hunter Valley has done it."
He expects Edie Jaccka and Fantasize to deliver more wins.
Fantasize was brought to Australia by Allan McColl, who has also imported Wet My Whistle, Huey Lewis and Corbaux to Harmey's stables.
The trainer was relieved to see Fantasize, a four-year-old mare, produce after she proved difficult to work with when in-season.
"As a two-year-old, she was a very good horse," Harmey said. "She beat Miss Streisand in New Zealand and raced in a group 1 on Jewels day.
"Obviously something happened to her as a three-year-old in New Zealand. She's had issues and she has issues now. She pulled up the other night and was horsing pretty bad, otherwise she would have won by further.
"To her credit she still went that good, so if I can address the problem, she could be one of the best horses I've trained."
Edie Jaccka has gone for a break until the new year.
"That race was a bit of a test with [Caruso] in it, but she was starting to pull away from it when it broke," he said of Edie Jaccka.
"She ran really good sectionals ... she keeps getting better and Blake hasn't pulled the earplugs in any of her starts."
And Harmey said two new Kiwi imports, Portalegre and Megastar, "should be better" than the recent winners.
Chevrons Reward had finished second in four of her previous five starts but finished strongly down the outside to win in 1:56:2.
Meanwhile, the All Stars stable captured three group 1 features on Inter Dominion night at Alexandra Park in Auckland on Saturday.
Ultimate Sniper won the pacing championship, Winterfell the trotters final and Amazing Dream the Peter Breckon Memorial for trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen.
At Menangle Park, Louth Park owner-breeder Michael Elder won with Bright Energy in a heat of the Christmas Gift.