It’s not that unusual for a trainer to land a trifecta but rarely do you see an owner finish first, second and third in the same race.
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Turners Marsh owner Richard Hodgetts and his partners achieved that feat with Rocknrollhighlight, Fortino and Sheer Strength in the Pirtek North West Stakes at Burnie on Friday night.
They also had a fourth runner in the race, No Apachemee, but he let the team down by running sixth.
The trifecta horses are all trained by Ben Yole, who finished the meeting with a treble, and Rocknrollhighlight was driven by Mark Yole who steered all his brother’s winners.
Hodgetts races his horses with his nephew Neville Hodgetts, brother-in-law Michael Felmingham and sister Colleen Felmingham.
“I had to talk them all into taking a share,” Hodgetts said.
“We bought about eight horses off Bob Cunningham a while ago and at one stage we won 13 races in four weeks.
“I guess you could say we are lucky owners – but we’re not big owners; we’re frugal.
“We pick the right horses and try to pay the right money for them.
“They’ve all cost under $10,000.”
Hodgetts said he liked racing claimers and preferred horses down in C0 or C1 grade.
“That gives you a better chance to win a few races before they get up in class,” he said.
“Rocknrollhighlight will find it hard now that she’s a C9 horse but she’ll probably only race for another month or so because we’re hoping she’s in foal.”
The six-year-old came off 40m to win her 18th race, which had keen harness followers trying to recall the last time a horse won off that mark on the tight Burnie track.
The other Yole brothers’ winners were Northview Dave and Iam Aw Sam.
Todd Rattray drove a double on Island Bliss and Tisu Toota while his brother Gareth scored on Tisu Bombbelle.
The Clayton Miller-trained Tisu Toota scored the 31st win of his 161-start career and, as usual, he was popular with tote punters.
He paid only $5.10 but closed at $10 in the fixed-odds market.
Rohan Hillier drove the longest-priced winner of the night, Penstock Boy for trainer Mark Jones, but he was a good result for some punters as he firmed from $23 to $14 fixed odds.