Donnelly doubles up at Cambridge

By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk

It was a night of doubles for Arna Donnelly at Cambridge Raceway on Thursday night.

The local horsewoman secured a quinella in the Waikato Cup (2700m) before she doubled up a race later, getting another quinella in The Race 14th April Mobile Pace (2200m).

Rough And Ready led home the stable quinella in the Waikato Cup after a positive drive from David Butcher who took luck out of the equation when he sent his charge forward to the lead with two laps to go.

He was able to hold out the late challenge of his stablemate Bad Medicine to win by 2-1/4 lengths, with a further nose back to High Point in third.

“Rough And Ready has been racing super without any luck at all. All he needed was things to go right and he was always going to be hard to roll,” Donnelly said.

“When he ran second to Beach Ball up at Auckland he didn’t get out until late and last week he rolled home nice for second. I am really happy with him, he deserved that. He is a really consistent horse.

“It was a super run from Bad Medicine for second. He has only won three races and it was a massive step-up in grade for him.

“What a performance to get home like that in his first standing start.”

Donnelly was also pleased to return to the winner’s circle a race later to welcome back Wild Card, who beat home stablemate Glenthorne, to the surprise of their trainer.

“It’s not the way I thought it was going to go,” Donnelly said. “I thought just from the draws it would have been a reverse result but they all went well.”

To cap the night, stable runner Aflyin Spur pleased when finishing second to Romeo Foxtrot in the Chanelle Lawson Photography Handicap Trot (2700m).

“It was good to see him trotting and doing things right, it was a big confidence boost for the horse,” Donnelly said.

“He is going to go a long way. He has just got to learn his trade first and hopefully we have got through most of the bad part and we are into the good part now.”