Fabulous four as hoop Tash Faithfull builds on stellar early form with Albany dominance, six wins in two days

Star Albany hoop Tash Faithfull rode a swag of winners including the feature race at Percy Spencer Racecourse on Saturday — the start of a brilliant weekend in the saddle. Faithfull started the new Great Southern racing season with a bang on November 2, riding a winning treble, and added to her early-season haul with four more winners in Albany on Saturday, highlighted by Wineaclocksumwhere. The four-year-old Samantha Faithfull-trained gelding was the clear favourite in the TABtouch Regional Championship Heat: The Road To Ascot (1230m) at very short $1.35 odds, and made good with an emphatic win over stablemate Vonsnip by more than five lengths. Wineaclocksumwhere was a brilliant first-up winner for the Faithfull stable on November 2, and then sat prominently in running on Saturday before surging clear to claim the $40,000 championship heat. Starting the day aboard Questioneverything in the TABtouch Have You Got The Touch Maiden (1230m), Faithfull set the $1.55 favourite up well in the early stages, sticking with early leader Tapitlikeit’ssassy ($8.50) before going on to score a 2.8-length win for trainer Steve Wolfe over American Que Tee ($9). Our Nemesis was a $3 chance in the Little Creatures Pale Ale Handicap (1500m) for trainer Dave Hopperton, as Faithfull got the best out of her mount in the straight, to beat Pray Again ($5) by half a length on the line. Faithfull’s final win of the day was on Hyperreal in the TABtouch Better Your Bet Handicap (1100m) for trainer Misty Bazeley. The pair had a successful outing at the first meet of the season, notching the five-year-old gelding’s first win, and made it two in a row on Saturday after coming from well back in the field with a big move around the outside and powering clear of Insyde Success ($3.70) in the straight to score a two-length victory. Elisha Whittington snagged the win for trainer Roy Rogers with Niccy’s Affair ($11) in the Advertiser Print Handicap (1500m), leading all the way to win by more than a length over Coatachino ($12). Size Matters was an impressive winner for jockey Jason Whiting and trainer Paul Hunter in race two over 1230m, getting home down the outside to reel in frontrunner Close Call. Hunter made it a double by winning the final race of the day with King Cartel, who beat the fast-finishing Late Arrival. Trainer Indianna Weinert was in the winners’ circle, with maiden galloper Brave Apache producing a dominant 3.1-length win in race three. Faithfull enjoyed an outstanding weekend as she backed up her four winners in Albany with a double in Geraldton on Sunday. She rode the winner of the $125,000 Geraldton Toyota Batavia Sprint (1200m) in the form of Supersession from the Adam Durrant yard.