By David Nagel
Cranbourne and Pakenham trainers made a clean sweep of proceedings at Stony Creek on Saturday with all seven races being won by trainers under the ‘Southside Racing’ banner.
Cranbourne trainers Nathan McPherson, Luke Oliver and Trent Busuttin/Natalie Young all enjoyed success on a very warm day for racing, while the in-form Charlotte Littlefield and Emma-Lee and David Browne waved the Pakenham flag with pride.
But it was emerging Pakenham trainer Reece Goodwin who trumped them all and took training honours on the day, scoring a race-to-race winning double.
Goodwin has made his name as a trainer who can turn the fortunes of gallopers around, with Saturday’s double further endorsing that claim.
Both Trak Chiller and Diamatti have improved their form after moving on from the original trainers.
Trak Chiller, the first to win on Saturday, has now had two of this three career wins – in 21 starts – in just three runs under Goodwin’s care, after just one win from 18 previous starts with Paul Preusker.
The five-year-old mare won his first race for the Goodwin stable on November 5 last year at Bairnsdale, and backed it up with a solid fourth placing on the same track two weeks later.
Goodwin then gave Trak Chiller a brief freshen up, with the benefits on full display on the weekend.
Jockey Jackie Beriman had Trak Chiller camped close to the speed throughout, before hitting the front at the 200-metre pole and racing away for a seven-length victory.
Goodwin had little time to celebrate, saddling up six-year-old gelding Diamatti for the next race on the card.
Formerly trained by Allison Sheehan at Pakenham, Diamatti has also become a more consistent and reliable galloper since the switch to the Goodwin yard.
Jockey Koby Jennings settled Diamatti just off a hot tempo; making his charge for victory at the top of the Stony Creek straight.
Diamatti only just gobbled up the leaders, picking off Master Of Chant and Highland Dream in the shadows of the winning post to win the fifth race of his career.
Goodwin is more than pleased with the ongoing development of his stable.
“We’ve just completed our third year of training here at Pakenham, and so far this has been our most successful year,” Goodwin said.
“The future looks very bright for 2025; we’re building some new boxes that will bring our numbers up to 30.
“I think that’s a really good number for us, we can keep hands on and I can keep a good overlook of all the horses.
“The facilities at Pakenham are going from strength to strength; we have a new uphill track, a wetlands track, there’s a lot of variety here and the movements of some leading trainers here vindicates our decision on building our stable here at Pakenham.”
