Tom Ison notches his first career training double

At Albion Park last Friday night, Ison was in the gig when he achieved the first training double of his career.

He drove Blissful Donna - the 2.80 favourite - to an 8.8m win in a mile rate of 1min 57.3sec for 1660m.

It was also a great thrill for the horse's Tamworth owners, Rob and Michelle Bellamy.

Ison then drove Prodigal Guinness to a 14m victory in a mile rate of 1.57.4 for 2138m.

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Ison was close to training three winners at the meeting, with Nicky Khan finishing second in race three.

"To get my first training double was awesome," Ison said. "It was a great thrill.

"I loved it, especially to do it at Albion Park."

Ison's winning streak continued at Albion Park last Saturday night when he trained and drove the Todd McMillan-owned Majic Moment to a 4.9m win.

Majic Moment, a three-year-old Captaintreacherous filly - produced a mile rate of 1.55.5 for 1660m.

From 11 race starts for Ison since coming to his stables from NZ, Majc Moment has produced five wins and two minor placings and is seen as his top horse.

As a trainer, Ison has produced seven winners.

He will be back in action on Friday night when he returns to Albion Park with Miss Serena, Blissfull Donna and Nicky Khan.

On Saturday night at Albion Park, Majic Moment will contest the $20,000 Ultimte Tools 3yo Pace, before Ison returns home to Tamworth.

"The trip to Queensland has been a complete success and I couldn't have asked any more from the team - they have all gone great," Ison said.

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The Tamworth harness meeting last week saw Tamworth trainer and reinswoman Caitlin McElhinney shine through once again with an impressive winning drive behind Laker.

McElhinney raced Laker three back on the inside running line, while the leaders set a handy tempo of 26.9 seconds for the first quarter.

The final turn saw McElhinney perfectly extricate Laker in order to race three wide before urging the gelding on to take out the PeterMac On-course Photography Pace (1609m) by 2.6m over Sals Last Blast (Jemma Coney).

Galvarino (Blake Hughes) - the $2.40 favourite - was another 2.6m away in third place.

Laker - a six-year-old - notched her second career win at race start 43 and paid $61.

The Tamworth meeting also saw Manic Mia produce her first career win under the training of Russell Murray.

It was a great way for Murray to celebrate his 74th birthday, while Armidale trainer John Enks produced his 100th career winner as a trainer, at the meeting, with the win of Neville Shannon (Dean Chapple).

It was also nice to see records broken at meeting.

Threebushelsofoats - trained in the Hunter Valley by Aaron Goadsby and owned by Marcus Kirkwood and his family - won the Vale George Simpson Pace in a mile rate of 1.56.4.

Threebushelsofoats broke the two-year-old open record by 0.1 seconds. The mile rate for the old record, set by Runfromterror in 2021, was 1.56.50.

Threebushelsofoats also broke two-year-old fillies record by 2.9 seconds. The odd record of 1.59.30 was set by Flare Up in 2021.

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