Watchful Lady was the first out of the barrier and the first one home to score an all the way win in the Sam Ison Memorial at the Tamworth harness meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
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Reinswoman Jemma Coney had no hesitation in making the most of the one barrier and dictated the tempo in the feature race when the opportunity presented itself.
Coney has owned and raced Watchful Lady since November last year - while the training of the four-year-old mare is handled by her father Greg - and picked up her sixth win in that time.
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"I had an intention to lead but at the same time I was a bit worried about Shadow Pass [from barrier five] and a couple of horses outside of me but she [Watchful Lady[ showed good gate speed and did it really easy once she found the top [lead[," Coney said.
"I tried to aim up as slow as I could in the lead as she has got a real good dash at the end of her races but she got a bit keen and over raced."
Watchful Lady was rated well by Coney in the lead to set a nice race tempo of 31.4 seconds for the first quarter.
That was followed by 29.5 seconds; 28.5 seconds and 30.2 seconds in the next three quarters with a mile rate of 1.58.9 for the 1980 metres.
The race move for Watchful Lady came in the final occasion on the back straight when Coney elected to place a gap on the field but felt a little tentativeness heading into the home straight.
"I was a bit worried around the final turn as the mare eased up a bit but she toughed it out. I knew Just Tommy (Sam Ison) was coming," she said.
Watchful Lady went on for a 5.4-metre win over Mac Stubborn (Anthony Varga) and Just Tommy (Sam Ison) another metre away third.
"I was surprised that no one came at me in the race but 28.5 seconds up the back was pretty quick for her," Coney said.
As for Watchful Lady's next race, Coney said there was a couple options to choose from.
"The mare has been really good to me - we will probably look at Narrabri for her next start or there is a Ladies Invitational race at Penrith - we will see how things go." she said.
Watchful Lady has picked up a few feature races of late with the Joan Bullock Memorial back in February and the Tamworth HRC Christmas Gift back in December.
