BATHURST pair Mat Rue and Nathan Hurst fought out a thrilling battle in one of the feature races at Menangle Park on Saturday night, with Rue ultimately coming away victorious on $27.20 outsider Uncle Jay.

Contesting the $25,000 Listed Country Series Final, Rue was driving Uncle Jay for trainer Steven Lee, while Hurst was onboard his consistent runner Tulhurst Ace, who started at the juicy odds of $48.30 in the 1,609 metre trek.

For virtually the last 400m of the race it looked almost inevitable that Tulhurst Ace would get the win as he threatened to storm home over the top of Uncle Jay, but the four-year-old gelding managed to hang on.

The result continued a trend for Tulhurst Ace, who has now placed 21 times in 40 starts but has only four wins.

“At the top of the straight I thought Uncle Jay looked to be struggling a bit and I was going to get past him, but he found a second wind and really battled on,” Hurst said of the winner.

“My horse has often gone around at pretty big prices and still done well to get a placing. I was rapt with how he went in this run, especially considering the work he had to do early in the race.

“He’s really consistent and very rarely runs a bad race.

“I think he still has it in him to get a bit better, with some better draws and a bit more luck in his running I think a lot of those near misses can turn into wins.”

Uncle Jay led most of the race as $1.70 favourite Ima Grumpy Possum made plenty of punters grumpy after galloping immediately after the start of the race and never recovered.

Hurst went from mid-field on Tulhurst Ace to sit off the leader’s shoulder, and he looked to have all the momentum going into the straight. He probably even led himself at one stage before Uncle Jay kicked again.

It was a good night in general for the Bathurst entries, with Amanda Turnbull claiming two wins as a trainer, and another driving for her father Steve.

Amanda’s partner Nathan Jack steered $8.70 chance Oh Jonny B Good to victory in the 2,200m Free For All Pace, defeating his nearest rival by over seven metres.

In an even better outcome, she trained the quinella in the Three Year Old Pace (1,609m). 

Jack was driving $5 chance Fcee, who managed to lead all the way and hold off stablemate Neon Sky ($3.60), being driven by Turnbull.

She had a third entry in the race, Majordan ($25.30), who finished seventh.

Earlier, she piloted $2.40 favourite Jedi Mind to success in the MO Pace (1,609m) for Steve Turnbull.  Again it was part of a stable quinella as Steve Turnbull’s $6.30 chance Mouse In The House claimed second.

Peter Trevor-Jones’ runner Crackerjack Jo ($6.10) made it a clean sweep for Bathurst runners in the placings, coming home third while driven by Rue.

Steve Turnbull drove his own entry Heza Thrill ($3 favourite) to victory in the Free For All Pace (2,300m) and picked up third in the same event with Amanda driving $18 outsider Im Blue Double Dee.