Doherty back in the business of winning

However it didn't stop him from enjoying a breakthrough with Freskos Art at Riverina Paceway.

It had been almost two years since the veteran trainer last had a winner, but coming off two seconds the five-year-old mare.

Freskos Art was actually his last winner in April 2021 but had almost 18 months on the sidelines with Doherty's wife Margaret unwell.

"I've had a sick wife so I had to back off horses completely," Doherty said.

"She was in hospital for two months during COVID and things weren't looking good but she came out of it.

"With a wet winter we just couldn't do what we wanted to and that's all it's been.

"I've just worked around my wife being sick and the horses come second."

READ MORE

Freskos Art has now won two of her eight starts with another four placings.

Doherty was impressed with her efforts after leading the Conquest Pools Ladyship Pace (1740m) from barrier eight.

"Coming from eight and going to the lead is a pretty big effort as at Wagga they usually lead from eight," he said.

"She probably had a little bit on them."

Freskos Art ($1.40 fav) went on to down Glenrock ($81) by 10.5 metres in a new career best time of 1:56.1.

Only one of her two unplaced efforts was when she suffered an atrial fibrillation in September.

However she hasn't missed the top two since.

"I don't know what happened there but something went wrong," Doherty said.

"She's a real nice mare.

"She's out of a great mare, everything has been winning in the family, and that's all you can go on"

It was a good day overall for the Jindera trainer with Shirley Hall also finishing third despite being inconvenienced.

Meanwhile there were no multiple winners over the eight races even with Blake Micallef narrowly missing out on a treble.

After combining with Len Clement to win aboard No Rushing he was then beaten a head by Jackson Painting as Guy Looks Good made it two wins in his last three starts before James Locke arrived just in time with Crime Dont Pay.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: