An 80th birthday celebration trackside at Kempsey races on Saturday November 21 was less than a length in being an historic occasion for two family trainers.
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The margin signified the distance one galloper was beaten in what could have been a rare father and son winning double.
Six decades Gladstone-Kempsey trainer Peter Ball had to settle with four-year-old gelding Blood Red Sky running third whereas his son, Tony Ball, from Taree, put plenty of cheer into his mum Janice's birthday by having a win with Makuba, ridden by Port Macquarie's Ben Looker.
"It was a very happy day," Tony said.
In my four decades of covering local racing I can't recall a father and his son both being individual trainers and coming so close to posting an historical two wins on the same card, albeit one with only five races.
Seven-year-old gelding Makuba, bought from Queensland for $3300, grabbed its third win for local connections to make it eight wins and 17 placings for nearly $87,000 overall.
"The former owner put it up for sale as he had too many racehorses and was getting too old," Tony said.
"My wife, Barbara, family and friends are in the ownership and it was a 10 out of 10 ride by Ben to get it home first at only his second ride for us."
He said that Makuba ($4.40) had a soft spot for racing at Kempsey.
His father's galloper ($11) was only having its fourth start in a race after brain cancer victim Brendon McKay gave it to his sister, Gaye, to race.
"It ran really good and will be hard to beat next time," Tony said.
"It had been away from racing for over 12 months."
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