Julie Maughan's Raceday Report Sunday 19 February 2017 - Tact Maria

TACT MARIA WINS THE LOCAL RACE by Julie Maughan

Tamworth trainer Barry Schipp maybe spacing the runs of his mare Tact Maria but he is most certainly securing some results with the method.

After commencing from barrier seven on Sunday night at the Tamworth Paceway Tact Maria had a convincing win in the Bearing Accessories Local Pace (1980m)

Schipp races the six year old Lis Mara USA-Tact Marie Knight NZ mare along with his wife Beverly.

Driven a treat by reinsman Michael Grima Tact Maria had a 4.9 metre win over Mitrhy’s Magic (Anthony Varga) and Merry Jasper (Mitch Chapple) 2.6 metres away third.

"She is getting fast now – it was a nice tidy win" said Grima "We had to veer wide to miss some trouble but she sprinted hard"

Merry Jasper (Mitch Chapple) led the field from the two barrier while Tact Maria was five back on the outside running line.

Veering to miss a breaker – McArdles Star – two laps from home – Tact Maria then took a three wide run into the race behind Mitrhy’s Magic not long after the bell sounded.

"I think she has always been a good racehorse from the first time I drove her" added Grima "she is very relaxed"

"I don’t know if she will get any better with the harder racing but she has certainly still got a lot of condition"

In taking out the Bearing Accessories Local Pace it also gave Grima - who is a Manager at SIBELCO mine - a bit of a "buzz".

"We (SIBELCO) would be one of the best customers at Bearing Accessories" added Grima who also stated there were a couple of strong contenders in the race.

"There were a couple of horses in the race who have just competed at the January Carnival - Somebeach N Clovelly was in a heat of the Golden Guitar and Mitrhy’s Magic was in the Gold Nugget"

For Bearing Accessories Manager Cameron Bullock he was just as pleased with the end result.

"I’m really happy that Barry (Schipp) has trained the winner of the race but Mick has worked for one of our biggest customers SIBELCO for many years now".

Tact Maria returned from a spell last December for a first up win before finishing third to Readily and then returned to the Paceway on February 5 for a win in the Thank You THRC Volunteers Pace with a personal best mile rate of 1.57.2 before the win on Sunday night.

Michael Grima also picked up the Pub Group Drive of the Night.