Five mini-trotters driving an assortment small equines chugged in earnest in three handicapped races during the 2016 Christmas race meeting. 

Tamworth’s Jack Chapple drove Zoom in Zac to victory in races one and two, and quietly confident the little gelding would bring him home in the third, but he surprised the field by changing steeds, and turned up with Egyptian Lady, who did not earn him a hat trick.

Instead, second and third placer Brodhi Davis pipped them all at the post with Coco Bango in the third. “He’s fast.

He’s a good boy,” Brodhi said, and shared a critical piece of information that might have been key to his win. “Don’t look back,” he said. 

Tanner Brown did well in races one and two with a third and second behind Mr Fantangle, but the girls outweighed the boys in the third race.

Rylee Kiddle finally earned a place, coming second in the third race with diminutive Mr Rocket Fuel, and was pleased with her results. 

“He went good,” she said. “A little bit faster and he listened better.”

Molly Ison, little sister to driver Tom Ison who was busy with the Standardbreds that day, was busy trying to gee up her black Shetland Angus McGregor to place. 

She got her wish with a third in the third race. “He went better than before,” she said. “It’s probably because I spent more time with him and he trusts me more.”