By COLIN HODGES

Local trainer Wayne Prisk has now won the two feature races for 2024 at Cobar with the same horse, Dancing In The Sky.

Nyssa Burrells travelled from the southern highlands in June to win the Westrac Cobar Cup on Dancing In The Sky and on Saturday 17 August the Narromine based Ricky Blewitt was the winning jockey in the DJW and Wells Ventilation Cobar Picnic Cup.

Making the Cup win even more special on Saturday, Wayne Prisk landed a winning treble with his other winners being Parnassus and Rylstone Rocket.

This was a popular achievement as Wayne Prisk is a great supporter of western area racing, regularly travelling long distances to start big teams at meetings.

Penique set the early pace in the 1700 metres Picnic Cup until Dancing In The Sky took over at the 1200 metres and proceeded to make the race a one act affair.

Owned by Wayne Prisk and Butch Eves from Cobar, Dancing In The Sky (Ricky Blewitt, $3.50) won by nearly four lengths from Valadyium (Leandro Ribeiro, $3.20 favourite) and Eaglesaurus (Eloise Drews, $5.50).

Rylstone Rocket ($10) is also raced by Wayne Prisk and Butch Eves and with Gilgandra based Zara Lewis in the saddle came from fourth to beat Mista Sock (Todd Bailey, $7) and Oojah Capow (Ricky Blewitt, $2.30 favourite) in the 1400 metres Sullivans Mining and Hardware Class B Handicap.

IMAGE: Emma Datson

Part owned by the trainers son Geoff Prisk, Parnassus (Deborah Barton, $5) gave a taste of the good things to come for the stable when sweeping around the field to beat the leader La Magia (Izzy Neale, $2.20 favourite) and Kitty’s Pledge (Zara Lewis, $13) to win the opening event, the 1000 metres Cobar Cranes and Tyre Doctor Maiden Plate.

For Deborah Barton this was her second career winner, the first being on Anymarg’illdo at Bligh Picnics.

Wayne Prisk went close to 4 winners at Cobar as A Tender Lady (Zara Lewis, $7) led by a big margin in the 1000 metres The Stabilising and Geosecure Class B Handicap however was overhauled and beaten a half length by the Michael Plummer, Narromine trained Northern Excel (Izzy Neale, $5) with Wabrami (Todd Bailey, $2.80 favourite) a close third.

Zara Lewis brought up a Cobar double when the Ashley Gibson, Gilgandra trained Alaskan Aura ($6) raced handy to the lead before kicking clear from Blackhill Kitty ( Todd Bailey, $8) and Bush Warrior (Izzy Neale, $7) in the 1400 metres Nutrien Russell-Picnic Championship Preview Trophy Handicap.

Premiership winning trainer Connie Greig dominated the 1200 metres Cynend Building and Construction Trophy Handicap with the first 3 place getters in the 9 horse field.

Ridden by John Wilson, Celtic Harp ($5.50) finished well to beat stablemates Benyatta (Eloise Drews, $7) and the heavily supported Allande (Leandro Ribeiro, $3.50 to $2.30 favourite ).

IMAGE: Emma Datson

Next up in the western plains, Narromine (TAB) is set to race on Sunday 25 August with the $40,000 Narromine Cup to feature, while the Gulargambone Cup is scheduled for Saturday 31 August.