IT was a night that didn't start in the greatest fashion for Phoebe Betts, but by the time the Dubbo Harness Racing Club's meeting on Friday finished she had the second treble of her driving career.
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The 18-year-old steered both Gabbys Sportstar and Im Major Harry to victory for Nathan Hurst then got the job done for her mother-trainer Moncia Betts aboard For No Reason.
It opened her account for the year and emulated her other career treble, which came at Parkes 11 months ago.
"It was a good night, real good night actually," Betts said.
"I sort of went to the trots thinking I would have a pretty good night, but them night's tend to turn around and you can have the worst night ever.
"After the first two horses went around I was worried it was going to be one of them nights, but it ended up being a good one."
As Betts indicated, her first two drives of the evening were not the greatest of results with a 19.6 metres seventh and a 12.3m eighth.
Her next horse to drive, Hurst's gelding Gabbys Sportstar, had not won since July last year.
But Betts headed up the line of outside runners with the $4.60 chance, made her move into the final bend and guided the six-year-old to a narrow short-half-head victory over favourite Joes Redemption ($3.10).
Betts then backed that up with Im Major Harry ($2.70) to earn Hurst a double, the winning margin with the 189-start veteran a much more commanding 16m.
"I thought both of Nathan Hurst's would go pretty close because they'd been going pretty good, but the races were a bit tough," Betts said.
"Hursty, he gives me a lot of drives. I've had a few drives for him and I reckon it was nearly my first winners for him. So it was really good to do that."
Betts made it a treble with For No Reason, the $2.50 favourite doing it comfortably with a 12.6m win.
"The one for Mum, she went really good last week and should've won last week but it was just a bad drive from me," Betts said.
"She can get a bit keen, she got a bit keen last week, but I thought she'd go pretty close and if she found the front she'd be hard to run down and that was the case."
Betts now has 58 winning drives to her credit since she got her licence in season 2018-19. Not only has she learned plenty during that time, but she's been trusted by many different trainers.
"When I first got my licence I thought I'd really struggle with judging speed out in front, I just always thought it might be something I'd have a bit of trouble with," she said.
"But it's actually been pretty good, I seem to have caught on to it pretty quick and I actually haven't had much trouble with it at all. That is one of the things I have done pretty good.
"I work for Chris [Frisby] and he trusts me with a lot of his better quality horses and even Steve [Turnbull] too ... so I'm really thankful for everyone who does give me an opportunity."
Betts will have her next drives at Parkes on Wednesday.
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