Albany trainer Paul Hunter kicks off racing season in superb fashion with winning double in opening race meet

Albany trainer Paul Hunter started the new Great Southern season with a bang, landing a winning double at Mt Barker’s relocated meeting on Friday.

Mt Barker’s season opener was set down for Sunday, October 30 but was postponed because of heavy rain in the lead-up.

The meeting was shifted to Albany’s Percy Spencer Racecourse last week and Hunter enjoyed a strong start to the new campaign with two winners on the seven-race card.

Impressive four-year-old Henry The Aviator was a slashing winner of the final race, storming home for jockey Kyra Yuill.

Henry The Aviator jumped second-favourite at $3 in the field of eight after the late scratching of Urban Warrior, and turned for home in fourth spot.

However, the gelding produced a terrific finish in the straight to sprint past his rivals and win by 1 1/2 lengths in The Parsons Circle Of Friends Handicap (1240m).

The Rebecca Wallrodt-trained pair Fuel The Friar and Final Plan filled second and third, respectively.

Henry The Aviator won a 1000m barrier trial before his first-up assignment and has now won two races in eight career starts.

That result was the second leg of a double for Hunter and Yuill after they teamed up to win with progressive mare Back In Blue.

Back In Blue ($9) settled fourth in the Chris Parsons Handicap (1000m) but overhauled leader Nights Mystery from the Mitchell Pateman yard in the final 200m to win by a short neck.

The Playing God mare has now won two of her six career starts for Hunter, with Yuill making perfect use of barrier one to have her stalking the leading pack on the home corner in Albany last week.

Earlier in the day, veteran Albany trainer Peter Western tasted success with consistent galloper Classic Magnus. Classic Magnus had plenty of support in betting in the small field of six and jumped a $2.80 chance on the tote for apprentice jockey Holly Watson.

Watson was patient with the five-year-old mare who raced keenly in the early stages, but they stormed to the front in the home straight and then held off the fast-finishing Morton’s Fork to win the Sheryl Parsons Handicap (1000m) by nearly a length.

Classic Magnus won his most recent start back in May in Albany before having a spell and appreciated the track which was rated a soft 5, having been successful three times in 10 starts on a soft surface.

Albany will now hold the second meeting of the Great Southern season and their club’s first of 2022-23 this Sunday, headlined by the $40,000 regional championship heat.