A quartet of harness racing enthusiasts from the former gold-mining town were flying the flag for the Think Big syndicate when the well-bred Bettor Think Twice produced a tough win at her third start.
Mark and Barbara Chapman and Geoff and Joss Davidson were on-course last night to watch the 2yr-old Bettor's Delight filly win after almost missing the start and pacing roughly around the final bend.
The quartet make up four of the 10-strong syndicate. Another Lawrence couple, Jim and Karen Roughan, are joined by Cantabrians Ken and Anne-Marie Spicer, and Wayne May and Terry Shearer, along with a group of other owners.
''My mate, Ken, rang up last night and said `I'm not going to get down there. Hopefully, some of you guys can make it','' Mark Chapman said.
The six Lawrence-based members ended up in the Think Big syndicate thanks to some proactive business practices from West Melton trainer Cran Dalgety.
''It was picked up at the sales by Cran Dalgety and because we've had ownership of horses in his stables before, he rang around and asked if we wanted to come in on this one,'' Chapman said.
Dalgety trained Tom And Jerry, who is back in work with Westwood Beach trainers Jonny Cox and Amber Hoffman, for the Lawrence-based members, and they also have enjoyed success with the Tim Butt-trained Astral Traveller, who lines up at Addington tonight.
''We've been lucky, but we've had duds too,'' Chapman said.
Chapman is quite happy to be involved with the well-bred daughter of Bettor's Delight and 2008 2yr-old sires stakes fillies winner Rona Lorraine.
''She's a wee bit immature but she's coming to it. She will be right. It's very early in her career and not all horses make 2yr-olds.''
Bettor Think Twice's driver Dexter Dunn agreed, both on the maturity factor and the filly's ability.''
She's probably not quite up to the good fillies,'' Dunn said.
''She's had a go at them and she's not far away, but she's probably just behind them. She's a nice filly though.''
A false start might have contributed to Bettor Think Twice being tardy in the restart and gaining her place on the gate just in time, despite a brief gallop.
''Then she got quite rough around the last bend and they got past her a bit but she fought back pretty bravely and stuck her head out,'' Dunn said.
Katy Perry starsThere were no such concerns with Katy Perry though, who chased down a gallant Mako Banner in a quickly-run c0 2200m mobile pace.
''She did it pretty easy, really. She got left in the open when they were running along and got a bit of cover.
''But she's got a lot of zip. She's a really nice filly, this one. She did it easy as.''
Dunn added three more wins on the night through Vedika, Belkymster and Starsky's Dream, the latter two for Westwood Beach trainer Graeme Anderson.
Belkmyster warmed up for the $25,000 4-and-5yr-old championship next week with a close victory over Stradowan in the c3-c6 handicap pace.
Dunn now sits on 113 wins for the season, 34 clear of Blair Orange in second place.
