Bundaberg owner/trainer Tony Hess won his first race in three and a half years and snapped a 44-race losing streak when the stylish Majiang triumphed in the Byron Bay Brewery Maiden Plate.
The race was held as part of the XXXX Gold Christmas Party Meeting at Thabeban Park on Saturday 12 December.
Tony formerly enjoyed great success with Mark McLean syndicate horses for over a decade
His previous winner was with Cold Blooded on April 1, 2017.
However Tony took a break from the game and did not have a runner from December 14, 2018, until June 30 this year when Majiang had his first start for him, placing sixth.
Perfectly ridden by apprentice Rebecca Wilson, Majiang, which had subsequently notched four straight thirds before a last-start fourth, finished powerfully from the back of the pack to sprint away over the concluding stages of the 1090m event to winn running away by 4.75 lengths.
Now that he has broken through, the four-year-old could go on to better things.
Rebecca completed a winning double, scoring a surprise win for top Bundaberg trainer Darryl Gardiner, aboard exquisitely bred former Victorian Homecall, which was runner-up on debut at Cranbourne on November 29 last year and finished third at Pakenham at his last start before being acquired by Darryl on August 4, also shed his maiden status despite racing out of his grade in the Class B.
Caloundra apprentice Louise Dillon scored an emotional win in the James Squire Benchmark 55 Handicap on Dukatti for popular Eidsvold trainer Bob Murray, riding with a heavy heart after the shock death of her father Ross last week.
It was Louise’s first time back at the Park since she suffered two spinal fractures in her lower back in a race fall on June 2.
Louise, whose partner Brendan Jones is a former Queensland Country open representative cricketer who played in Bundaberg in the 2012-13 season, did not make her race comeback until October 17, and it was only her second winner in 23 mounts since.
All Ezz, another superbly bred son of glamour sire Exceed and Excel, proved too good at his first Bundaberg outing in the XXXX Dry Open Handicap, with Jason Missen in the saddle.
The gelding started his career in Melbourne with top city trainer Tony McEvoy, before enjoying much success throughout South and Central Queensland for high profile Rockhampton trainer John Wiggington, then recently made a winning debut for his new trainer Len Mawn, of Chinchilla, in Charleville.
Top Gympie trainer Barry Gill, who has continued on in the game despite the tragic death of his champion jockey wife Desiree in a race fall at Caloundra in November 2013, took out the XXXX Gold Benchmark 65 with the ultra-consistent Mahratta, which started his career in Melbourne with champion trainers David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig.
Ridden by Robert Faehr, the seven-year-old came from well back to catch favourite and local hope in the last bound.
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