Author - Tom Barber

17th April 2022

Life Well Lived shocked some to take out the Omni Building Group Maiden Handicap (1300m).

In keeping with the theme of the day, race three was another close one with Life Well Lived narrowly getting the win for Bathurst trainer Andrew Ryan.

Well-respected jockey Anthony Cavallo was at his best to rally Life Well Lived home late to finish narrowly ahead of Jac's Legacy, trained by Gosford's Tony Newing and ridden by Mathew Cahill who had already ridden one winner earlier in the day.

Billiethefillie jumped extremely well and led the pack through the first half of the race by a few lengths before the rest of the field caught up.

Heading onto the straight, Life Well Lived ($3.80) was sitting in around the sixth position before slowly moving up the field on the outside of the track which was rated a Soft 5 as the sun shined in Dubbo.

It seemed as though Cavallo timed his run too late but the gelding stormed away over the last 100m to take the win around the outside.

Dubbo trainer Brett Robb's Billiethefillie ran third ahead of St Rose.

Hiraishin was way too good for the field in the Marty Nelson Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Maiden Plate (1000m).

Trained by Rodney Northam, Hiraishin led the kilometre-long race from start to finish to finish several lengths clear of the rest of the field to take the win.

No one got close to Hiraishin after the final bend as jockey Reece Jones sat in the saddle comfortably until the final 200m when Babayka looked like making a move around the outside.

It was not to be, however, as Hiraishin held the inside line to take the win by more than two lengths.

Brett Cavanough's Babayka ran second ahead of Conversations, trained by Derek Piper.

Niccourette trained by Dubbo's Clint Lundholm ran strongly to finish in fourth place and showed strong signs towards the future for the gelding.

Ryan's day got even better just two races later as Laffing Waters won the McDonalds Dubbo and Wellington Class 1 Handicap (1000m).

Coming into the race as a favourite with the punters, Laffing Waters proved exactly what it was the shortest odds runner in the race storming home to win. Carry On Cathy got out of the gates well and looked strong early to lead the field around the opening half of the track.

Heading into the final straight it was still Carry On Cathy who led the pack but Laffing Waters and jockey Ashley Stanley made a move to take the lead.

Stanley got on the whip late as Laffing Waters pulled away from the field which was closing on the leader but Ryan's horse was too good in the end.

It was the Bathurst trainer's second win of the day from five races, making it a successful trip to Dubbo for Ryan.

Diggers Reach trained by Garry McCarney ran second with Tim McIntosh's Our Boy Malcolm running third. Fourth place was a dead heat between Dubbo trainer Michael Lunn's Yak and Alison Smith's Mamelon.

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