VICTORY in the Margaret Mawhood Memorial was the highlight of a bumper Friday night for Amanda Turnbull as she reaffirmed her status as one of the finest drivers in the state by steering four winners.
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Since Turnbull won the Harness Racing New South Wales drivers' premiership in season 2016-17 she has not finished outside the top-two in that ranking.
She was runner-up in the two seasons which followed, and is currently locked in a tight tussle with Bathurst natives Luke McCarthy and Todd McCarthy for this season's honours.
Her effort on Friday at the Bathurst Paceway helped her in that battle.
Turnbull began the meeting with a win as Meraviglia ($2.30 favourite) took out the opening race. She went on to snare success in the memorial with Rock On ($2.20 favourite) and steer both Didnt I ($1.65 favourite) and Joonior Brown ($2.60) to victory as well.
The star The Lagoon driver got within a neck of making it five winners for the night as Smooth Cash ($3.80) was impressive but narrowly beaten in his Country Series Heat.
Had he won, it would have been the sixth time in Turnbull's career she had steered five or more winners at a Bathurst meeting and 16th occasion overall.
The Margaret Mawhood Memorial (1,730 metres) was one of two feature races for the Oberon Community Night meeting and Turnbull had the job on the four-year-old mare trained by her father Steve Turnbull.
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Going from barrier seven Rock On showed good speed off the arm, but with Turnbull not able to slot into a one-one sit she guided her three-wide.
As the bell sounded the Rock N Roll Heaven x Zagami mare sat in the death seat outside Brad Hewitt's Roger That ($2.80).
A length separated the pair as they headed into the back straight, but by the 400m mark Turnbull had guided the favourite to the lead through a hot 27.8 seconds third quarter split.
Roger That tried hard to fight back, but Rock On kicked over the final 100m and went on to win by 3.8m in a hot 1:54.6 mile rate.
"She went super, it felt like they were really going along. She felt like she wasn't on the bit, but that was why, they were going pretty quick," Turnbull said.
"Once she hit the front at the top of the straight I thought she was a show. It's all about confidence with her and once she hits the front he always goes good."
