It was a horror first race experience for Miss Modern Ruby, but the four-year-old picked herself up off the track to hand trainer-driver Andrew Harrington a memorable first.
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Harrington drove his first winner at Junee on Friday night as Miss Modern Ruby saluted in what was her first official race start.
Falling in her race track debut, and bringing three others down with her, she was on her best behaviour this time around.
The chaos saw her debut in Wagga six months ago abandoned and it has taken that long for the daughter of Modern Art to get back to the track.
Harrington was thrilled his hard work paid off.
“We tried to drive her cold at Junee and she delivered the goods for me,” Harrington said.
“It went to script, we got the one-one, and it all opened up for me at the top of the straight and she done the rest.”
After breaking the mare in, to bring up his first driving win on her made the victory for special for the 24-year-old.
“That one meant a fair bit as I’ve had her here from day one,” Harrington said.
“I got her off Brian Bradley at Coolamon and it was good to get one back for him as both the horses I’ve had off him I’ve been able to get the bonus out of.”
After her dramatic debut, Harrington was far from focused on winning on Friday night.
He just wanted her to get around safely.
“I was more worried about completing the course then getting the result, but we got the best result we could have asked for,” he said.
It’s caused a shift in his plans, but the 24-year-old admitted it was far from a big problem.
“This run was supposed to be conservative but it just kinda fell into my lap to be honest,” Harrington said.
“We were going to chase a Rewards Series but I stuffed that up winning first up but you don’t mind changing those sort of plans.”
The victory was just his second since taking out a trainers licence in December 2015.
He thanked Steven Harris for his guidance getting her back on track as well as his uncle Chris Bevan and cousin Paige Bevan.
Meanwhile Blake Jones took overall honours from the eight-race card with a winning double.
He combined with David Kennedy to win with Leaky Smokin plus Kevin Hayes with Its All Bliss.