Brothers from different mothers took out the Brothers In Arms drivers series at Oamaru on Saturday.
The wild-card pairing of Matthew Williamson and Ricky May, who played gold-capped brothers for the five-race competition, performed consistently to take victory with just one heat win.
Williamson was the leading individual driver in the series, accruing points in every heat. He scored maximum points when winning heat four with Sea Rover for trainer Terry McMillan.
Leo O’Reilly took out the last heat of the competition in exciting fashion, launching Convair Hustler for a late run for a track-record-breaking win.
The Brett Gray-trained pacer set a new all comers’ mark for 2000m on the Oamaru all-weather track with a time of 2.24.6, 0.4sec under the previous record, jointly held by Dakota Grace and Belmont Flyer.
The record could be considered something of a bonus.
Saturday’s meeting was programmed to be run on grass but all races were shifted to the Oamaru all-weather track after heavy rain hit the region. Convair Hustler had to produce a record-breaking effort for just his second win.
"He has been racing out of his grade a bit; he has been in some tough races," Gray said.
"He won a nugget final and that money gave him a few extra rating points, so it has been a bit tough for him."
The Mach Three 4yr-old’s last start was a prime example of that: he clashed with seven-win mare Delight My Soul and five-win pacer Franco Santino. Those watching the race closely would have seen him put in a black-book effort. He went to the line untested after running out of room in the straight.
The good news for his connection is the horse will not rise in rating points, as his win on Saturday was penalty-free.
Southland horseman Clark Barron drove his first winner in 11 months in the series, producing a passing-lane win with Regal Suzy for trainer Warren Stapleton.
His last win came in January with Somejoy. He had had only two drives this season before competing on Saturday.
