THE weekend's racing at Wellington was unique for a number of reasons but Dubbo trainer Justin Stanley produced something rarely seen in the racing game anymore.
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While the focus was on the two $100,000 events - the Wellington Boot and the Central Districts Country Championship Qualifier, Stanley scored two wins in two days with exactly the same horse.
Wollartant took out the Keirles Pharmacy Class 1 and Maiden Plate (1700m) on Saturday during the opening day of the Wellington Boot carnival before backing up on Sunday to take out the opening race, the Septic Sams Hire Benchmark 55 Handicap (1700m).
The seven-year-old gelding headed into the weekend with just the one win from 17 starts but on Saturday jockey Brad Clark produced a gem of a ride to lead the progeny of Volitant and Creative Chimes to a dominant two-and-three-quarter length win.
Then on Sunday champion jockey Greg Ryan was in the saddle as Wollartant came from behind to make it two-from-two in as many days.
Ryan was full of praise for Stanley in the post-race interviews stating the hot weather over the weekend would have kept the Dubbo trainer busy as he maintained Wollartant's hydration.
In other results from Saturday, Yes Zariz found himself in a very different situation to what he did in 2015.
This time last year the Bruce Parker-trained Yes Zariz was preparing for a tilt at the $100,000 Country Championship Qualifier at Dubbo but on Saturday it was a much different story as he took out the $8,000 Star Benchmark 60 event at Wellington.
Yes Zariz, who finished second in last year's Qualifier and consequently got to run at Randwick in the $300,000 final, has battled for consistency since then.
On Saturday he looked near his best again as he stormed down alongside the rail with Ryan on board to win by one-and-a-half lengths.
The annual Iron Horse Benchmark 60 Handicap (2400m) was also run on Saturday and won by the Paul Theobald-trained Bathurtstian.
Bathurstian ($3.50) won the gruelling event well, a length ahead of Consented ($4.60) and Metro Myth ($3 favourite).