TALMOI picnic races on Saturday wrapped up another successful Golden Triangle – the heart of bush racing in the heart of the country – as local racing heads toward Mungindi, Wean, Moree and Goondiwindi in the coming weeks.

Moree picnic races on May 24 celebrated its 101st year on the bush racing calendar with six races, a big crowd and plenty of horses.

Dubbo powerhouse Connie Greig collected two winners, including a quinella in the RDO Equipment Moree Bracelet with I’m Scarlett and Line of Law.

Armidale trainer Jane Clement saddled B&W Rural Boolooroo Cup winner Awesome Tycoon, which went on to Walgett Cup success three weeks later, and Scone jockey Ashley Boyd rode two winners, including emerging talent Ellati in the Nutrien Ag Solutions Maiden Plate.

Narromine jockey Ricky Blewitt resumed from a long, injury-enforced lay-off with a full book of rides at Moree, but could only manage a couple of placings on Bold Pulse and Showtime Sassy.

But he proved he was back on top of his game two weeks later with a winning treble at Mallawa picnic races.

Blewitt won the RDO Equipment Mallawa Bracelet on Annual, an all-the-way winner for popular Gunnedah trainer Gavin Groth.

Groth also legged Blewitt aboard AFF Class 3 Handicap winner Showtime Sassy while Wayne Oakenfull’s Ellati made it two-from-two with Blewitt on board in the Irritek Class 2 Handicap.

Connie Greig quinellaed the Moree Bracelet two weeks earlier and went one better at Mallawa by supplying first and second in the B&W Rural Titan Ag Mallawa Cup with Pahang and Blackhill Kitty.

The Mallawa meeting was showcased by the presence of 91-year-old Dorothy Wiseman, whose father Charlie Jardine – a former amateur Australian heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic Games representative – was Mallawa Picnic Race Club president back in the 1930s.

Dorothy hadn’t been to a Mallawa meeting for more than 50 years.

“Coming back to Mallawa for the races has been on my bucket list for quite a while,” she told Moree Online News.

Dorothy’s father, Charlie won the NSW Amateur Heavyweight Championship in 1922, and the Australian Heavyweight Championship the following year.

Dorothy flew from Rockhampton to Sydney via Brisbane and onto Moree to attend the meeting.

She said there were plenty of stories to share with people whose families have been farming in the Mallawa district for generations.

“I thoroughly enjoyed myself. People came out of the woodwork to talk to me,” she smiled.

At Talmoi, 92-year-old local Cedda O’Neill increased his attendance record by one more year, and reckons he’s never missed a meeting – even as a young fella with parents, Clinton and Elva, and older brothers Paul, John, Kevin and Ron in tow.

“I’ve been in the Garah district all my life, and I don’t think I’ve ever missed a race meeting – made every one of them so far,” he smiled.

Out on the track, Inverell jockey Zara Lewis ended a long run of outs in the best possible way.

Lewis arrived unheralded at Garah and quickly rattled off the first three winners on the six-race card – The Hoff, Tandem and Super Hot in the time-honoured Helen Boland Memorial Talmoi Bracelet.

Quirindi trainer Geoff O’Brien put the spit and polish on Tandem and Super Hot, and claimed his own treble when Sarah Curits guided Akauwheo to a soft win in the Col Goldman Memorial Class 1 handicap.

“I’ll take that,” O’Brien grinned after the third winner came home.

“Akauwheo got those couple of runs under her belt at Moree and Mallawa, and is starting to look like a racehorse again,” he said.

Have-saddle-will-travel jockey Paul Zerafa made the long trip from Kembla Grange well and truly worth it when he survived a protest to win the B&W Rural-Syngenta Warren and Ruth Hunter Memorial Talmoi Picnic Cup on Gavin Groth’s honest old gelding Norman.

After logging more than 4500km with good mate and agent Luke Galea to take rides at Moree, Mallawa and Talmoi, Zerafa waited until the very last race on bush racing’s Golden Triangle to notch his first winner at the carnival.

“Winning a race like that makes all the travelling worthwhile,” Zerafa smiled.

The Triangle is over for another year, with Mungindi taking centre stage on Saturday, July 5 with six races, including the 1400m Mungindi Cup, won last year by Ridge Wilson’s Jakat.

Wean Picnic Race Club stages its annual meeting the following Saturday with the Wean Cup and Wean Bracelet headlining a six-race card.

Goondiwindi Jockey Club stages the Boggabilla Cup meeting on Saturday, July 19 at Gunsynd Park and three days later, Moree Race Club holds a seven-race TAB meeting, featuring a 1400m Country Boosted Class 1 Handicap and 1300m Country Boosted Maiden Handicap, each worth $30,000. Supporting races are each worth $27,000.

Meanwhile, with four picnic meeting left before the Picnic Country Championships final fields are announced, Connie Greig has a stranglehold on both $50,000 finals – over 1000m and 1400m – with nine of the top 12 qualifiers in the 1400m final and three qualified in the 1000m sprint.

Final fields will be announced after meetings at Nyngan (July 5), Wean (July 12), Trangie (July 26) and Cobar (August 2).

Both finals will be decided at the Dubbo Gold Cup meeting on Sunday, September 28.

(For the record, Moree Online News’ early selections are Joanneski in the 1000m final and I’m Scarlett in the 1400m final).