Phil Williamson won his 300th race with a trotter at Forbury Park last night on the track where he recorded his first training success 19 years earlier.
Williamson reached 300 with Here Comes Pat after winning with El Castro two races earlier.
He had his first training win with Role Model, racing as a pacer, at Forbury Park in 1993.
Role Model, who was having his third start, won six races as a pacer. Williamson then switched him to trotting and Role Model won his first start at that gait at Addington in June, 1995.
Role Model won 10 races, including the 1996 NZ Trotting Championship as a trotter before he was exported to Australia.
Here Comes Pat has won won six races for owners Denis Stumbles and Jim Hunter.
It was the second win in five starts for El Castro, raced by Barrie Barber, of Karitane, and Michael Chin, of Christchurch.
They bred El Castro, who is among 55 foals left by his sire, Muscleman, a son of Muscles Yankee.
Astronomos, the dam of El Castro, won three races as a pacer for the pair when trained by Henry Skinner.
Citylight proved the worth of her form in the heats of the Golden Girls series for 1-3 win mares when she won the $10,000 final last night.
Citylight had won heats at Invercargill and Winton. She is the first horse trained by her owner, Stephen Baucke, a Dunearn dairy farmer, who bred the daughter of Christian Cullen and Operative Asset.
She has has now won five races. She won over a mile in 1.56.5 as a 3yr-old.
She came from the tail of 10-horse field last night in the hands of 18-year-old junior driver Brad Williamson. He has won four times with Citylight from as many drives on the mare.
New Years Jay was disqualified from first place last night after staging a colossal performance. She was disqualified on the grounds that she was in her incorrect gait for more than 150m in the early stages after she tangled.
The Forbury Park Trotting Club has been granted $19,363 from Racing Safety Development Fund to replace track lighting poles.
"The poles have started to deteriorate underground," Zelda Jordan, the acting general manager of the club, said.
Nathan Guy, the Minister for Racing, announced grants of $508,826 for 223 projects from the Track Safety Fund.
The fund provides $1 million as year for projects that improve on-course health and safety, with matching dollar-for-dollar contributions from racing clubs.
The grants are headed by $50,000 to the Bay Of Plenty Racing Club and for a lift and toilet for paraplegics and a similar amount to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing to replace the running rail at Ellerslie.
The Waimate Trotting Club has been granted $18,599 for grandstand repairs.
The Forbury Park club received a grant of $40,000 towards stakes last night from the NZ Charitable Trust.
El Magic, the winner of her last three starts and six races this season, has been sold to Queensland. The 5yr-old mare has recorded her wins since joining the stable of Foxton trainer Peter Scaife in October.
El Magic was scratched from her engagements at Forbury Park last night and Rangiora tomorrow. She is booked on a flight from Christchurch next Friday.