It's been quite a month for the well-known and popular Williamson family of Oamaru.
Middle son Matthew turned 25 at the start of June, youngest son Brad turned 21 last week - and put in a tidy effort on the yard glass by all accounts - and the patriarch, Phil, reached a milestone birthday which I shall not repeat for fear of being put on the banned reporters list.
But those yearly occasions will pale into insignificance tomorrow when oldest son Nathan gets married to his fiancee, Katie Jones, in Invercargill.
Never one to pass up the chance of adding to his already fine training and driving record this season, Nathan has nine drives at Forbury Park tonight.
I hope you pick up a win or two and also get round safely, Nath - the last thing you need is a couple of extra scars for the wedding photos.
Only three more children to go, Phil and Bev!
Back on track
Yes, the weather played its part in the rebuild and yes, the weather last Thursday night helped matters, but massive credit must go to the track staff at Forbury Park and the contractors.
For Och Aye The Noo to run a track record suggests the track must be pretty much back to where it was before this month's floods.
That was the feedback from the drivers whom I spoke to as well, and - in the horrible event we ever get 175ml in 24 hours again - the club knows it can repair the track, and fast
So long, farewell . . .
Racing fans might have noticed the race name for the opening race at Wingatui yesterday.
It was the ''Good Luck Casey & Megan Steeplechase''.
No, Casey Tippet and Megan Direen haven't got married and changed their last name to Steeplechase - that's just the type of race it was.
Anyway, Casey and Megan are off in a few weeks to take in the wonderful world of Europe - mainly the United Kingdom.
They've both had big parts to play with the Otago Racing Club and Wingatui in the last few years.
Casey has been employed as the assistant track manager at Wingatui, while Megan has ridden regular track work and also helped out in the ORC office in recent seasons.
Have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Which doesn't leave much, to be fair.
Lazy fiver
Alleyoop produced an airball last week, finishing well down the track.
Time to hitch my wagon to the Martin Denton express train and (hopefully) watch Rory Mach avoid bad luck this week in race 7 at Forbury Park tonight.
• Check out Matt's two-minute racing tips videos on www.odt.co.nz every Friday
