As the sky darkened and the storm clouds rolled in, the stewards at Bathurst's harness racing meeting on Friday night had a decision to make.
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With the safety of the horses and participants at the forefront of their minds, the decision was made to abandon the meeting after race four due to lightning settling in around the district.
However before the weather took a turn for the worst, the Wendy Turnbull-trained To The Lookout was able to make the most of the evening, taking out the first event on the card.
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With the services of driver Emma Turnbull, the five-year-old gelding began from barrier one in the Harold Lonard Memorial (1730 metres).
After release point Im Major Harry (2) and Blaze Edition (4) went to war, with Im Major Harry and driver Phoebe Betts able to hold the lead.
This left To The Lookout in a cosy position behind the leader where he enjoyed a good trip before commencing a run entering the home straight for the final time.
"I was hoping to be behind the leader, at worst three-fence, and when they went pretty hard early it really suited him," Turnbull said.
"The death seat horse sort of dropped off for a while at about the 400 and I thought I'd stay there but then he got going again.
"When I turned around and had a good look nothing was making much ground, they were only sort of battling, so that made me decide to come around rather than waiting for the sprint lane."
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Too The Lookout and the Wade Judd-trained and driven Blaze Edition fought out the finish, with Turnbull's runner able to take out the event by a half-neck margin.
Blaze Edition put in a massive run to finish second with third in the event going to Steve Turnbull's Prince Parker, who began the $3.60 race-favourite.
To The Lookout clocked the fastest mile rate of the night as well as a personal best time of 1:57.0.
"He's no champion but he's run plenty of placings and definitely paid his way," Turnbull said.
"He's just a nice little fella to have around, he's pretty cruisy to do anything with."
The rest of the night also went the way of the Turnbull family, with Nathan and Josh Turnbull training the remaining winners respectively before the meeting was abandoned.
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