Manawatu treble for O’Reilly

By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk

Canterbury driver Sarah O’Reilly was on fire at Manawatu Raceway on Thursday night, reining home a treble of winners for Michael House.

She kicked off the night with a 1-3/4 length victory with Petronelli Gee in the Marion Hickey Memorial Handicap Trot (2500m).

It was the fourth career win for the son of Pegasus Spur and O’Reilly was delighted to see the seven-year-old gelding back in form.

“He has always been near enough, but his form went off a wee bit, so it was good for him to turn it around,” she said.

“He is quite a nice trotter, he has got good manners, and he fits in well up there.”

O’Reilly continued her winning momentum into the meeting’s feature race, the Manawatu Harness Racing Club Country Cup (2500m), with Santanna Mach.

“He is a really good standing start horse,” she said. “He pings away and we were able to get handy in the running, which helped us out in the finish. We were able to get a really good run.”

O’Reilly saved her best win for last when recording a three-length victory behind Doctor Tim in the Cartown Mobile Pace (2500m).

“He dropped back in grade so he got into that race well,” she said.

“The distance suited him a lot and we were able to get down the outside because the tempo was pretty strong the whole way. He is a lovely horse and he enjoyed that.”

O’Reilly said she enjoys travelling north to drive at Manawatu Raceway and she was pleased to reward House for his support.

“I enjoy driving up at Manawatu. The people are great and I enjoy going up there for their meetings,” she said.

“He (House) has supported me throughout my career so it is great to get these results together.”

House was a dominant force once again at Palmerston North, recording a further victory with Beach Party in the Naylor Lawrence Mobile Pace (2000m), bringing his total to four wins on the seven-race card.