COME this Friday night at the Bathurst Gold Crown Paceway, Colin McDowell will be hoping for a touch of girl power.
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It is because the experienced driver will be chasing glory in two Group 1 finals for fillies - the Bathurst Harness Racing Club's Gold Tiara and the Gold Bracelet.
McDowell was the man who steered the inaugural winner of the two-year-old feature 33 years ago and he will have another shot at the $100,000 Gold Tiara Final on Friday night after steering Michelle Lee Mac to victory in her heat.
Trained at Mulgoa by Kerry McDowell, Michelle Lee Mac showed good gate speed as she sizzled out from her barrier seven draw to cross and take the lead.
While Colin McDowell handed up as they came around for the bell, the Bettors Delight x Duets filly pounced down the home straight.
She quickly made up a 6m gap to leader Gee Gee Blinxs and pulled away over the final 100m to book her spot in the decider.
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On Monday afternoon McDowell booked a spot in the three-year-old fillies Gold Bracelet Final with Zanadu ($7.50) as she too unleashed a nice sprint down the home straight.
This time McDowell sat in the trail for a majority of the 2,260m journey, leaving For All We Know ($3) to stamp out the tempo up front.
Favourite Miss Halfpenny ($1.50) got caught three wide and while driver Gavin Fitzpatrick was able to tuck into the pegs in third spot with a lap to travel, the earlier effort told.
It left For All We Know and Zanadu to battle it out for the honours.
For All We Know led as they turned for home and kicked, but Zanadu responded. They were neck-and-neck with 75m to run, with McDowell's chance going on to win by one-and-a-half metres.
"She's a nice mare," McDowell said. "When she [For All We Know] kicked on the corner I thought she had me for a minute, but she fought on well."
It was Zanadu's fourth win from six starts, the Bettors Delight x Glenferrie Shuffle filly rating 1:58.3.
The only driver to have won the Tiara-Bracelet double on same evening was Allan McDonough in 2001.
