Last Saturday saw a pleasant change in the weather and a resultant increase in the playing numbers for the Saturday competition.

A little overnight rain resulted in very pleasant playing conditions with the course having been mown and in very good condition thanks to our volunteer greens staff.

Nine ladies played with the winner being the consistent Viv Halbish on 18 points. This the second week running for Viv- watch out or the handicapper will catch up with you.

Runner up was Carol McDonald on 17 points who took second place on a count back from Gail White. There was no winner in the Ladies NTP.

Twelve men faced the starter for their weekly match and the very consistent Brian Masling blitzed the field with 23 points. Well done "Maso". Runner up was Mal McIntyre on 20 points.

The mens NTP winner was Chris Harding and he collected the six golf balls out of the jackpot pool. No doubt about this "Pom" it is rumoured he gave the prize to his wife- what a wonderful gesture.

The overall NAGA prize went to Tony Beaumont on a count back from a lady who declined to be mentioned.

Attention turned to the Pool table where "Maso" and Peter Gainsford played Tony Beaumont and Terry Willis in the preliminary round.

Beaumont and Willis won a very ordinary  match to advance to the final against hot favourites, Gus Smith and Chris Harding.

"Beauy"and Willis managed to defeat the favourites in a close match to become the weekly champions. The victory was soured a little by the fact one of the opponents fouled on the black-bad luck.

Next Saturday the comp is on again at the usual time of 9.00 am with the girls on the back nine  and the men on the front.See you all on the tee.

Norman Lewis

This Coming weekend we will be hosting a visitation from the East Maitland Travelling Bowlers) and to date not too many names appear on the Nominations Sheets for the Social Bowls outings we will be conducting in Conjunction with this Visitation.

The nomination sheet for both Games has been posted on the notice board and with the weather in mind the Saturday afternoon Fixture will commence at 4pm and will be timed to finish around 6.30pm. 

Sunday Morning tradition Chook run gives way to another social Bowls Foray which again has a different starting time than Norm, so if you’re a mind to join in with visitors Pleas put your name down on either or both sheets:

Also this coming Saturday Saturday, February 16 in Conjunction with the Visitation we will be Hosting a “Monster” Meat Raffle at 7pm.

Some 50 Meat Trays and a couple of other “Goodies” have been donated by the Visitors with all Monies raised going to the Local Drought Cause.

Kat’s Karaoke will also be providing LIVE MUSIC that Saturday Night, so even if you are not playing Bowls with the visitors, there is something for all members to Participate in or simply come along and have a night out up at the “Bowly”.

The Next Zone event is the Singles Championships and once again Narromine will Host a section of this event, this time it will be the OPEN Division, and so we should she some first class action that Saturday, February 16. 

As usual with Singles we will require Markers and if any member can help out with this job, please see Kevin or Myself sometime this week and we will reserve a spot for you:

The Draw for the Consistency Singles sees a few matches scheduled for this Sunday; however whether those matches go ahead is dependant upon results in the Zone singles Saturday and Green Space Sunday, so if you and your opponent can see a break in the traffic and want to play your match by all means do so.

Narromine played a Pennant Trial against West Dubbo last Sunday and despite a few late changes, the results were pretty good, with wins on four of the five rinks contested.

With Pennants now less than a month away we are hoping to Have an in-house trial on a free Sunday morning , but no too sure there is many of them between now and the start of pennants in the first week of March, time will tell.. 

Norman Bohm

On Tuesday we had 75 starters, Phantoms won the day with a score of 80. Individual winners were Charlie Rush 23, Sam Hitchcock 22, Richard Hunt 22, Greg Barling 21, Bill Gibbs 21, Tony Harding 20, Greg O’Mally 20, Gus Smith 20, and Richard Duff 20.

Nearest the pins were George Mack the third, Mal Richardson the tenth and Ron Green 17th.

On Saturday we played a 4B Aggregate with 11 starters. Winners  were father and son team Jamie McKinnon and Sam Brien with 72 points, runners up were the other father and son team Tony and Chris Harding with 71 points. Nearest the pins on the ninth were Glen Smythe and the tenth Jamie McKinnon.

Sunday saw 52 players vie for the Volkswagon Scramble sponsored by Craig Mears. 

The winning Team were Josh Coen, Steve Gillette Toby and Ben Rush with a score of 55.875 who will progress  to another course to represent Narromine, congratulations boys. Runners up were Peter, Michael and Caitlin Treseder and Andrew Hocroft with a score of 56.125.

Third were Glen Smyth, Matt Ward, Tim Wiggins and Bud Cape with 58 points. Nearest the pins, on the ninth Doug Potter and tenth Ben Rush. Thanks to Josh for organising lunch.

A huge congratulations and thank you on a job well done to all the men who helped get the course in such a great condition for the weekend. Saturday, February 16 the event will be a Par plus and on Sunday, February 17 4BBB.

Chris Harding/Josh Coen

Supporters of Tattinger were popping corks after the five year old mare won the Tooraweenah Cup ( 1000 metres ), feature event at the Gilgandra TAB meeting on Saturday.

Trained at Coonabarabran by Graeme Brooker, the well performed galloper is named after the expensive French champagne Taittinger.

From the back of the field, Tattinger ( Vad Bolozhinskyi, $4.60 ) made it 6 wins from 30 starts when rushing down the outside to account for Billy Bent Ear ( Chelsea Ings, $5.50 ) and Star Of Zizou ( Kath Bell-Pitomac, $3.20 favourite ).

The Bruce Parker, Gilgandra trained Star Of Zizou had won the previous 3 starts and ran another good race.

Bred and raced by Dennis Todd from Baradine, Rainbows Game became the career first winner for Stephane Joseph when taking out the 800 metres Bendigo Bank Class 1 Handicap.

Formerly from Mauritius, Stephane Joseph is apprenticed to Rodney Robb, the Nyngan based trainer of Rainbows Game.

Forging clear after sharing the lead to the home turn, Rainbows Game ( $6.50 ) defeated Military Bay ( Reece Jones, $1.70 favourite ) and Blinkin Dusty ( Tiffany Jeffries, $15 ).

Former Queensland jockey Shane McGovern who is now based at Wellington won the Tattersalls Hotel Class 2 Handicap ( 1550 metres ) on Carinda Road for Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm.

Sent around the field at the halfway point, Carinda Road ( $3.10 fav.) held on strongly to beat Mister Burgess ( Billy Cray,$31 ) and Tickets On Kye ( Andrew Banks, $41 ).

Other winners at the meeting which attracted a very good crowd, were the Mark Jones,Dubbo trained Pip’s Pick ( Jake Pracey-Holmes, $5.50 ), Femtometre ( Billy Cray, $4.40 ),trained at Scone by Brett Cavanough, and Say Madam ( Ken Dunbar, $14 ) from the Sonja Sharp stable at Orange.

Dubbo review race Sunday, February 10

As the field rushed down the straight in the $150,000 WRA Country Championships Qualifier ( 1400 metres ) at Dubbo on Sunday, it was hard to tell who was cheering the loudest, supporters of the favourite Westlink or the boys from outback Bourke who own the aptly named Sons Of Bourke.

Owned by the Juratowitch family and trained at Dubbo by Darren Hyde, Westlink ( Adam Hyeronimius, $2.90 favourite ) burst through the pack over the concluding stages to win the big money race from Sons Of Bourke ( Andrew Banks, $8.50 ) and Sprezzatura ( Jake Pracey-Holmes-Holmes, $41 ).

From off the pace, Sons Of Bourke made a wide run to challenge for the lead halfway down the straight and gave a great thrill to the Bourke based owners Frank Hollman, Glen Knight,Mark Spencer, and Kurt Dickson.

Clint Lundholm who trains Sons Of Bourke at Dubbo also trains Sprezzatura which came from last with a rails run to finish third while the Cec Hodgson, Coonamble trained A Martin Place Pick carried the 59kg top weight when a creditable fourth in the 14 horse field.

Westlink and Sons Of Bourke  have now qualified for the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final at Royal Randwick on Saturday 6 April.

Darren Hyde had a memorable day, leading in a winning treble, Westlink ( Adam Hyeronimius,$2.90 fav.) Bedtime Stories ( Winona Costin,$31 ) and Tokyo Bullet ( Andrew Banks, $14 ).

Nyngan trainer Rodney Robb missed out in the Championships Qualifier when his runners missed a place however he won the $30,000 Dubbo Chamber Of Commerce Benchmark 66 Handicap ( 1000 metres ) with Lucienne.

Owned by Dennis Thorpe, Greg Deacon and the late Chris Elder, Lucienne ( Winona Costin, $19 ) with a big finish down the outside arrived in time to beat Legerity ( Tony Cavallo,$18 ) and Eyesaw ( Jake Pracey-Holmes-Holmes,$18 ).

Bedgerabong Picnics, celebrating the 100th anniversary are on this Saturday at the beautiful racecourse beside the Lachlan River.

Colin Hodges