Craig Widdison had a day to remember at Albury on Saturday.
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The Wodonga trainer grabbed three wins from the seven races to continue a stellar first 12 months in the job.
Mr Fergus ($3 favourite), made his way through the field to win race two by one and-a-half-lengths from Chris Heywood’s Event.
Lord Laurie returned from a spell to record a massive victory by almost four lengths in race four, and Widdison’s day was made even better when newly-acquired Fish Bones Fry held off a late challenge to bring up its first win for the stable.
“It was a good day, you don’t get those often, so we were very happy with it,” Widdison said.
“You seem to go through phases, everyone has a bad run and when you have a good run it seems like everything you do ends up going right.
“Mr Fergus’ win in the second race was pretty impressive.
“I’ve always had a very big opinion of him, he’s just been a slow maturer.
“He ran a couple of thirds last time in, but I think he’s a horse that will get out to 2000 metres at some stage.
“To do that over 1400 metres, and the way he did it to come from last was really impressive.”
Widdison expected good performances from Lord Laurie and Fish Bones Fry in the lead-up and they didn’t disappoint.
“We told the jockey beforehand (Chelsea McFarlane) to wait for as long as she could before she let (Lord Laurie) go, but they flushed him out and he was really impressive,” he said.
“He’s always shown me a lot of ability, he just needed to mature and he looks like he’s going the right way.
“Fish Bones Fry raced at Wagga (on Monday) and only got transferred to me after that meeting, so I didn’t know a lot about him, only what the previous trainer (Mark Webb) had told me.
“I can’t take much credit for that one, I didn’t do a lot.”
Three different jockeys, including Nick Souquet (Mr Fergus), Chelsea McFarlane (Lord Laurie) and Simon Miller (Fish Bones Fry), were on board the winners.
“It’s always nice to spread it around a bit,” Widdison said.
“There’s a pretty good variety of jockeys around this area that ride really well and hold their own against anyone.”
Widdison also received a pleasant surprise with a fourth to Cochranes Gap in race three.
“He was first up from a break and seems to have come back a stronger horse,” he said.
“The big track at Albury suits him, hopefully he can keep improving and he’ll get out to a bit further later on.”
Mr Fergus and Lord Laurie are expected to return in three weeks, while Fish Bones Fry’s preparation will be stretched a fortnight.