Reelim Inn Photo by Northam Harness Racing Club
Gary Jones and Darren Kerr have had a long-standing association in the industry and on Friday night, July 26 at Northam the pair teamed up again, with Reelem Inn breaking through for her maiden win in the 3YO Westbred event.
Both have spent an extended time away from the industry, off and on for the past decade, but Jones ramped it up this season, with Saturday nights success his fifth this year.
Before 2024, Jones had just 33 starts between 2011 and now, with the 2009/2010 season quite possibly one of his most exciting one in the sport.
In 2009, Jones trained Scan Air who was victorious in the 2009 Village Kid Sprint, taking top spot over the $1.50 favourite, and WA champion in Im Themightyquinn.
In a great tussle to the line, Scan Air came out on top, beating the pint-sized Im Themightyquinn by just a short-half-head margin on the line.
In 2010, Jones and Kerr claimed the Gr2 $50,000 Nights Of Thunder Final, once again causing an upset for favourite punters, with the $7.30 shot beating the punters choice in $2.10 favourite, Scruncher NZ.
Jones has now had five winners this season, with The Wand Waver winning twice from just 12 starts, and Watch Me Wave also on two wins, but from 11 starts for the stable.
Reelem Inn was having her first race start on Friday night when she was given her chance to shine with the leader and short-priced favourite Blacksamurai galloping with less than 400m to go, Kerr and Reelim Inn made their run, going on to win by 10.2m over the 1780m sprint trip at Northam.
The win was Darren Kerr’s first win in the cart since the 2018/19 season.
It was the Peter Anderson and Aldo Cortopassi show on Friday night, with the pair joining forces to take out four of the seven races on offer on the night.
Five-year-old Follow The Milkyway kicked off proceedings with the double westbred daughter of Follow The Stars leading all the way in the opener, owned by Bob and Marilyn Fowler.
Race two saw the same combination successful, with double westbred filly Twelve Oclock Rock too good for them in the second, this time flying the flag for the sadly ill-fated stallion Rock N Roll World USA.
Bringing up her second win in just six starts, the $2.15 favourite worked her way forward from barrier six, to settle outside the leader over the 1780m trip, claiming the win with a 4.1m margin for the Anderson/Cortopassi team.
There were three winners on the night for stallion Rock N Roll World, with three-year-old Pushbutton Rock dead-heating in race three on the card with Jamie Kim.
The $1.38 favourite lead all the way in the third event on the card, bringing up her third career win.
The pair rounded out the meeting with a win, with two-year-old and first starter Southern Rock claiming his maiden win.
Giving Rock N Roll World his final leg of his siring treble, the two-year-old settled behind the leader and on the final turn, Cortopassi pulled the youngster wide to win by 2.7m on the line.
Aldo walked away from Friday night's meeting with four winners to his name, and currently sits on 1498 career wins in the cart.
Other winners on the night included Bitofdutchcourage in race four, for owner, trainer and driver Bruce Stanley, the third win from just nine starts for the five-year-old gelding, with the $6 shot able to lead all the way over the 2190m trip.
Race five went the way of the Giles Inwood trained Franco Western, driven by Corey Peterson. The combination last won on May 10, with Friday night's victory breaking a 11-start losing sequence.
Pacing will return to TABTouch Burwood Park this Saturday night, with the $14,000 Virgil Queen Celebration 4YO+ Westbred Mares the feature of the card.
