The dream run for the owners of Onthestraitenarrow continues to flourish with the in-form pacer again producing the goods in the $10,000 Supermix Concrete Christmas Cup at Wagga on Saturday night.
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The six-year-old has been transformed from a moderately performed winner of two races into a winning machine for trainer Chris Hughes.
The feature race victory was his fifth from seven starts for Hughes who was delighted to see a plan he set out a few weeks ago come to fruition.
“This was the race I wanted to win. He has had the five wins for us and some of the owners are first timers into harness racing so it’s great for them,” he said.
“He was unlucky and was placed in the Griffith Cup and apart from those two runs it has been a great run of wins with the horse.”
Hughes moved back to the region from the North Coast a few years ago and trains a couple of horses at a time.
His strike-rate is impressive with Onthestraitenarrow adding to what has been a memorable time for him on his return to harness racing after a few years without a horse.
Leading reinsman Blake Jones raced outside of the lead with the winner and when he asked the $1.70 favourite to extend he did it in style to win by nine metres.
If Onthestraitenarrow was impressive then what about the comeback victory of Scotlynn Jiggs.
The heavily backed runner was having his first start for over two years after and lived up to the betting plunge with a runaway victory.
The former New Zealand pacer has also raced in Queensland and has raced against some quality opposition.
His previous victories in Australia include a heat of the 2014 Indigenous Drivers Series at Menangle.
Raced by Troy Saddler and Matt and Grant Coelli, Scotlynn Jiggs was in a class of his own as he strolled clear for driver Rodney Coelli.
Saddler said it had been one setback after another with the gelding.
“He has had a lot go wrong with injuries which have limited his racing,” he said.
It Canberra on Saturday night with wins to Million Dollar Gem (Brett Woodhouse), Zoes Regal (Ross Arentz), Gold Starzzz (Matthew Harris) and Topsie Grinner (Josh Powderly).
The win by Zoes Regal was especially satisfying for connections at his second start back since a horror fall at Wagga in June left Arentz with a broken ankle.