LEADING jockey Blaike McDougall entered rare air when steering home his 100th Southern District winner for the season at Albury on Tuesday.
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McDougall's extraordinary season soared to new heights on his home track as he enjoyed a winning double with success on Nuclear Energy ($3.20) and Claptone ($2.60).
The double took him to 100 winners in the Southern District Racing Association (SDRA) for the 2020-21 season with just two meetings remaining.
It is a feat that no one has gone close to in recent history.
The day was not without drama however as McDougall had a minor fall on the way to the gates for the opening race. He was eventually cleared to fulfil his engagements but it cost him two rides.
He missed out on the winning ride on Black Lavender in the first, for Donna Scott, and was replaced by Nick Heywood.
He was also then overweight and had to forego the ride on Romary, who finished seventh later in the day.
While hitting the century in the SDRA, the double took McDougall's overall total to 189 winners for the season.
It leaves him just one behind Western Australian jockey Chris Parnham.
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Meantime, Mitch Beer maintains a four-lead win in the SDRA trainer's premiership after the win of Sunrise Ruby at Albury on Tuesday.
Donna Scott momentarily reduced the margin to three wins after Black Lavender ($7.00) won the opener, the Border Bandag Tyre Service Maiden Handicap (1175m).
But Beer got one back immediately as Sunrise Ruby ($2.70) scored impressively in the Naughtin Development Group Fillies and Mares Benchmark 58 Handicap (1175m).
He could have stretched the margin but had a couple of near misses.
Beer was more interested in what lies ahead for Sunrise Ruby than the premiership race on Tuesday.
"I don't think I've been that nervous in a really long time," Beer said.
"When you have horses in their right race, you hope everything goes good but when you've got a really nice horse, you just hope that they get every chance and Richie (Bensley) rode her confidently and she was pretty soft in the end."
Beer was quick to talk up the Kosciuszko chances of the lightly-raced filly but also conceded it may come around too soon for her.
"She's one of the nicest horses we've ever had through our system so we'll just keep building," he said.
"There's a nice 1200 metre race later in the year for country-trained horses worth about $1.3 million so we'll set the bar high and see how far we get."
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