A RARE winning double which included ending an almost three-year drought - Friday might have been Oberon Community Night at the Bathurst Paceway, but it was pretty kind to a Spring Hill trainer as well.
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From the 50 starts members of Kel Winnell's Spring Hill stable had been involved in prior to Friday night, only one had resulted in a victory.
The three runners he entered in the annual Oberon meeting - Courageous Beau ($21), Zaras A Lady ($51) and The Dancer ($6) - weren't really expected to add to that tally.
But Courageous Beau notched up his first win since March 2017 while The Dancer enjoyed his maiden success in his ninth career outing. For good measure Zaras A Lady ran third.
It was Winnell's daughter Jane Morris who sprung the massive upset with Courageous Beau in the Big Trout Motor Inn Pace (1,730 metres).
The seven-year-old Courage Under Fire x Warrawinnie gelding was last as the bell sounded and while he had improved to sixth with 200m left to travel down the home straight, still looked as he he would miss out.
But Courageous Beau lived up to his name and got up in his final stride, beating out Everybody Clap ($12) by a half-head, with $2.70 favourite Arma Augustus a further head back in third.
"It was a close finish, he's the sort of horse that can only come with one run, so I was a bit lucky," Morris said.
"A few people sort of come out rounding the bend, sort of a bit wider, and I just kind of slotted straight through and got a good clean run in room down the straight."
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Winnell then made it a winning double by taking out the Reward Series Heat (1,730m) with The Dancer.
With Winnell doing the driving, he took the early lead from barrier one before handing up to Why Not Surf ($6, Rickie Alchin) and taking a sit.
The trainer-driver then peeled out into the straight and with a clean, The Dancer went on to win by 2.9m over Why Not Surf in 1:59.0 mile rate.
Third place belonged to The Dancer's stable-mate Zaras A Lady, with Anthony Winnell in the gig.
The win saw The Dancer book a spot in the $10,000 Rewards Series Final which will be run at the Bathurst Paceway on January 29.
"He's got a bit of gate speed so I thought I might as well use it," Winnell said.
"When Rickie's horse came I let him go ... but it worked out pretty good. He'll go on this horse, he's a nice fella."
