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By Geoff Newling

Sally Torrens has a double dip at Moree and Tamworth race meetings. The Gunnedah owner/trainer has nominated Jeewan and Mr Malu for the same race at both Friday’s Moree meeting and Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup day meeting at Tamworth.

She has four runners aimed at both days, Mr Malu and Jeewan joined by Guilty As Sin and As A Hawk at Moree tomorrow, and backs up Mr Malu and Jeewan on Tuesday with Ansa and Moss Heart.

“They will both back up,” she confirmed of Mr Malu and Jeewan while also giving her other runners good chances at both tracks. “I’ve had a lot of luck at Moree, it’s been good to me,” she said. “My horses seem to go well there on the big long straight.”

At Moree Mr Malu and Jeewan will run in the $20,000 Namoi Hotel Narrabri Class 1 and Maiden Plate (1600m).

Vince and Wendy Weakley, licensees of the Namoi, also referred to as the Pink Pub, are renowned for their sporting support in and around Narrabri while Vince is a fearless punter and a regular patron at the Grafton Cup Carnival. Sponsoring a race in Moree is no problem for Vince.

“It’s an AHA (Australian Hotels Association) meeting,” he said. “We sponsor a lot of sporting things around here. Wendy is actually going up, taking a busload of girls with her. It’s a girls day out.”

It might make it something of a “femme fatale” race with the busload of ladies supporting a race where a female Gunnedah trainer has two young ladies riding her horses. Belinda Hodder will jump Jeewan from barrier 12 while Carla Dougherty, who won a race at Grafton on Tuesday, has Mr Malu starting from barrier six.

“They are both good little riders,” Sally Torrens said. “Carla doesn’t seem to get as many rides as she deserves. Guilty As Sin is also going good, just not having any luck. And they all need a little luck.”

She hopes she can repay the Weakley Pink Pub sponsorship by providing Wendy and busload of female friends with a win or two. She’s also looking forward to Tuesday’s TJC meeting after her first outing there returned such good results.

“I’d never raced there before on a Melbourne Cup day and had a real good day, finished with two winners and a second,” Sally recalled. “So it was a real good day.”