Sport
10 December, 2025
Profitable 600km trip and loss of a legend
The harness racing community is mourning the passing of Joe Thompson of Charlton, whose death early last week has left a significant void.
MILDURA again proved a profitable venue for Charlton-trained runners, with three locally prepared horses saluting after the long 600km round trip.
Charlton trainer–driver duo Tori Hutchins and Luke Dunne combined to win the opening event with Lester, a seven-year-old gelding by Hes Watching. Drawn on the second row, Lester was buried on the pegs before Dunne found clear running at the 500-metre mark.
The gelding sprinted sharply to reel in the $1.75 favourite at the top of the straight, drawing away for a comfortable four-metre victory. Lester has now started six times for the stable, returning two wins, two seconds and a third.
The pair claimed a second success with Archie Moth, a three-year-old by The Storm Inside, raced by breeders Len and Irene Parker of Maryborough.
The gelding had shown consistency with two wins and five seconds before joining Hutchins’ Charlton team. He has since added another win and a third, with Wednesday’s winning mile rate of 1:56.8 the quickest recorded for the 1790-metre trip on the day.
Charlton’s third winner came courtesy of trainer Zac Steenhuis, whose two-year-old filly Brave Art broke through impressively.
Driven by Jack Laugher and beginning swiftly from the pole, Brave Art controlled the race throughout and scored decisively by 12.8 metres, closing in 58.1 seconds for her final half-mile.
Remarkably, the filly had gone 16 starts without a placing before joining Steenhuis’ stable.
While the Charlton barns dominated, Bendigo driver Ellen Tormey continued her outstanding season, adding three more wins to take her tally to 123 victories by week’s end.
At Ballarat on Thursday night, the Ainsworth family celebrated a welcome return to form from their promising four-year-old trotter Singara Ted.
Raced by Katrina, trained by Barry and driven by Ashley Ainsworth, the gelding looked an exciting prospect early, winning at Melton at his second career start before finishing third in the 3YO Qbred Final at Albion Park last August. Benefiting from a kinder run at Ballarat, he finished strongly to score by 1.5 metres.
The harness racing community is mourning the passing of Joe Thompson of Charlton, whose death early last week has left a significant void.
A renowned educator of young horses, Thompson was respected widely across Australia and New Zealand. Locally, he was admired for his unwavering commitment to Charlton and was a driving force behind the establishment of the Charlton Harness Racing Training Centre.
Despite recent health challenges, he continued advocating for improvements to the facility.
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