THREE winning drives at one meeting, all coming on horses who weren't favourites.
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It's not a common sight to see in Central West harness racing but Eglinton trainer Nathan Hurst got to experience that rare moment at Parkes on Friday night.
Hurst started his winning treble in the opening event when he guided Gary Eyre's veteran Royal Feeling ($6.50) to victory in the TAB App Pace (2,040 metres), jumping out from behind the leader in the home stretch and powering home to hold off favourite Regrettable ($3.30, Stephen Dowton).
He would then go on to drive two of his own runners, Sharp Shooter and Gabbys Sportstar, to similarly nail-biting wins.
Sharp Shooter ($8.50) led the whole way in the Thank You Troy Peters Pace (2,040m) gelding and had just enough left in the tank to keep Steve Turnbull's favourite Cassius Deck ($1.75) at bay.
The most thrilling win of the meeting for Hurst, and the biggest upset, came courtesy of Gabbys Sportstar ($18) in the Telescope Tyres Pace (1,660m).
Gabbys Sportstar flashed home near the extreme outside of the track to win an exciting three-horse battle against Myra Dawn ($3.50 favourite, Mitch Turnbull) and Sputnik ($7, Justin Reynolds).
Hurst was full of praise for the efforts all three of his winners at Parkes showed during tough events.
"All three of them paid quite well so it's a nice bonus when you're not expecting it," he said.
"Gabbys Sportstar likes it when they go hard like that. He can run into it when they go a bit steady up front because he doesn't quite have the speed. That was great to get a race run to suit him like that because it doesn't often happen.
"I've been driving [Royal Feeling] a bit lately. He's been going really well but just needed the right run, and he got that the other night when he was able to stay behind the leader the whole time. He's been looking to win one recently and this was it.
"When Sharp Shooter came back from a spell it took him a little while to get going but his last couple of runs have been really good. We're really happy with where he's at."
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