A barnstorming wide finish In The Extreme notched his first win for Bathurst trainer Steve Jones on Wednesday night.
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The six-year-old by Extreme Three out of Clearly Invincible, In The Extreme has been a member of Jones’ team since late last year.
He began his career as a member of Michael Formosa’s stable, then had stints with Alison Chisholm and Alistair Copps before shifting to his current home base.
In The Extreme ran sixth on debut for Jones but had improved with a fourth then a second heading into Wednesday night’s Norm and Garth Harkham Memorial (2,260 metres) at the Bathurst Paceway.
Aaron Garaty had been in the gig for those runs and again had the job in the memorial aboard the $10.90 chance.
Going from barrier 11, Garaty had work to do early to avoid the galloping Derby Downs (barrier two), pulling In The Extreme to the right, then settled one out and three back.
Into the final bend he worked In The Extreme into the clear and he swooped to victory – his first in almost seven months.
“When you draw 11 you normally get a nice run through, but we had a bit of trouble with the horse in front of him galloping, so we had to get around him,” Garaty said.
“But we did that and he found a nice sit. I had to wait for the turn, so I was saving him up for that one nice run.
“I had been using him out of the gate because he’d had a couple of nice draws … tonight he felt pretty good and he was waiting to go when he pulled out.
“He found the line pretty well, he did switch off there at the end a bit, but he found the line well.”
It was $2.10 favourite Captains Call who led the field in the opening metres after going from barrier one, but at the 1,500 metres mark he handed up to Lucky Lyla.
Driven by Nathan Turnbull, Lucky Lyla set a gentle tempo up front, covering the first half of the last mile in 62.5 seconds.
Into the the back for the last time Lucky Lyla led by three-quarters of a length over Lethal Promise on her outside, with the favourite in the trail and Mammals Magic one out and one back.
With 400m to go there was half a length between first and second, but behind them Garaty was on the move with In The Extreme.
He came four wide and flashed down the outside, hitting the front with around 100m to go. From there he went on to win by 1.5m in a 1:59.7 mile rate.
Mammals Magic ($13.30, Doug Hewitt) also got home well to snare second, with stablemate Lethal Promise ($6.20, Bernie Hewitt) a further 2.1m back in third.
Meanwhile, the John and Margaret Donnelly Memorial (2,260m) was won by Belligerence ($2.80 favourite).