Local reinsman Cameron Hart wins first group one at Wagga

The former Junee reinsman produced a flawless drive on Techys Angel to win the $100,000 Riverina Championships Mares Final (2270m) at Wagga's group one carnival on Sunday.

Starting from barrier seven, second favourite Techys Angel ($3.60) led from start to finish, and setting a track record mile rate of 1:52.2 in the process, to beat favourite and stablemate Maajida in a 14-metre romp.

Maajida ($2.20), owned by The Rock-based Johnson family made an early race move to sit just outside Hart's runner, but Techys Angel always had her measure.

For Hart, who set the original track record with Beetson, it was an ideal way to secure his first group one in front of his family and friends, and justified the faith Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin's leading stable has placed in him.

"I've been trying to crack a group one for the last couple of years. They're not easy to get and to come back home and do it in front of the family, it couldn't have worked out any better," Hart said.

"This is where it all started for me, going around in the lower class races and building my career up from there.

"Everyone around here started me off, all the trainers in this area so it's great to come home and get a big win."

Techys Angel finished second in Tuesday's heats behind the Luke McCarthy-driven No Win No Feed ($8) in Tuesday's heats, who finished fourth behind roughie Myra Dawn ($81) in third.

But once she led easily Hart was confident she would hold produce the sectionals required.

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"I was really impressed with her heat run. She did things wrong at the start and was able to make up ground and finish strong," he said.

"I thought today if she got away nice and got to the front she'd take a bit of catching, and that's the way it panned out.

"I was lucky enough to get a nice little lead time early and crossed the field quite comfortably. Once we got the main danger (Maajida) on our outside I thought we could keep up the tempo, and keep her working throughout.

"Full credit to the mare she put up some quick sectionals and finished strong down the lane.

"Probably from the 500 onwards (I was very confident), I let her slide down the back and she travelled through that quarter well.

"Once she hit that bend she railed really well and felt strong turning for home."

Kate Gath's decision to drive Maajida opened the door for Hart to drive Techys Angel in the final.

He said it gave him tremendous confidence that they believed he could get the job done.

"They're the pinnacle in harness racing in Australia, Emma and Clayton. They've put a lot of confidence in me to get the job done today and I can't thank them enough," he said.

"It's about time this area got some nice big races, there's so many great horsemen and drivers in this area.

"Hopefully we'll get a few more top class fields like this coming in the future."

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