By Colin Hodges
During a long involvement with racing, William Pugsley from Charleville in Queensland has at various times been a trainer, owner, bookmaker, strapper and part time racecaller.
As a trainer, Pugsley ventured to Enngonia in north west NSW on Saturday and led in a winning treble, Mistrey Emperor and Edwards both of which he part-owns, and Greek Star owned by a friend, Daniel Twist.
All were ridden by Dubbo jockey Clayton Gallagher who landed five winners from his five rides at the isolated meeting which attracted a very good crowd.
William Pugsley's [pictured left] haul included the 1400m Dunk Insurance Enngonia Cup with Greek Star (Clayton Gallagher, $3.20) which settled just off the pace before finishing well to score by a length from Crazy Russian (Georgina McDonnell, $8) and Belle O‘Ballee (Shayleigh Ingelse, $7.50).
Only previous win for Mistrey Emperor was last year at the quaintly named town of Dingo when trained by Graeme Green at Rockhampton.
At Enngonia, Mistrey Emperor (Clayton Gallagher, $5.50) took the lead before the home turn and won the Nutrien Walsh Hughes Benchmark 45 Handicap by almost six lengths from Seeburg (Kody Nestor, $3.50) and Parnassus (Nyssa Burrells, $8).
Third entering the straight, Edwards (Clayton Gallagher, $3.50 equal favourite) became the other winner for William Pugsley when clearing out to beat Jamaican (Andrew Banks, $3.50 eq fav) and Hammoon Sunshine (Georgina McDonnell, $13) in the 1400m Thomas Foods International Class 1 Handicap.
In a big day for south west Queensland stables, Cunnamulla trainers Monique Gavin and Alistair Webb also had wins with Za Hidden Dragon and Mon Pierre, respectively.
Ridden by Georgina McDonnell, Za Hidden Dragon backed from $3 to $1.80 favourite was in the leading division from the outset and won the 1000m Bourke Bowling Club Open Handicap by over two lengths from Bowie Of Dubai (Andrew Banks, $7) and Billy Bent Ear (Shayleigh Ingelse, $7).
Easiest winner of the day was the Alistair Webb-trained Mon Pierre (Clayton Gallagher, $4) when leading throughout to beat Pahang (Mikayla Weir, $3.60) and Ballycastle (Andrew Banks, $7) by more than 10 lengths in the 1200m Bourke Steel & Hire Class 2 Handicap.
Preventing a clean sweep by Queensland trainers, Brett Robb from Dubbo won the 1000m Western Plains & Lower Lila Retreat Maiden Plate with Keep Ya Promise.
Owned by a group from Lake Cargelligo and Tullibigeal, Keep Ya Promise is a half-brother to another of their former gallopers On A Promise which won 11 races for Brett Robb including the $50,000 NSW Picnic Champions Series Final at Coonamble in 2021.
Breaking through after 10 starts, Keep Ya Promise ($1.90 fav) was the first of the five winners at Enngonia for Clayton Gallagher when leading and then holding off Loniesha (Tessa Townsend, $3.20) by a half length with Makers (Georgina McDonnell, $10) three lengths away third.
Racing on Saturday is at Grenfell (Cup) and Come-by-Chance picnics, then on Sunday at Dubbo featuring the $150,000 Dubbo Cup and $75,000 Vincent Gordon Flying Handicap.