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Northam Harness Racing presented a seven-race card on Saturday, March 9, with the night dedicated to the Elliott Family, including the feature race of the program, the Boof Elliott Memorial, which is in its fourth year running.
The race was first run in 2021 after Boof (Clayton) passed away the year earlier in February 2020, with his parents Janet and Garry Elliot (Who sadly passed away in mid-2022) honouring their late son with a trophied race at their home track of Northam.
The first Memorial went the way of Bountiful Reactor, then Dardy Boy in 2022, and the late Seeryanfly in 2023, with this year's winner the very successful Brickies Dream NZ for trainer/driver Robbie Williams.
First past the post as well as withstanding a protest post-race, Brickies Dream NZ continued his great form to come from behind over the 2190m trip in a winning mile rate of 1:58:8.
"It was really nice winning a race named after Boof. The Elliotts are a great harness racing family."
Going down by just a neck margin on the line, the fast finishing Beyond Bling, driven by Joseph Suvaljko lodged a protest soon after the conclusion of the race, for alleged interference at the 800m, with driver Joseph Suvaljko strongly in the belief that the interference caused the horse to race roughly for a brief moment, losing enough ground that he believes he would have won the race had the interference not been caused.
Williams made mention that he believes there was nothing to protest about and was confident throughout all stages of the inquiry.
The five-year-old gelding by Rock N Roll Heaven USA made his way to Williams in 2023, having his first start for his very large ownership group on April 1, 2023 with a win at Northam, eventually going on to make it four in a row.
Brickies Dreams NZ has now had 17 career starts for 8 wins and 4 placings, with his total stake earnings at just over $54,000.
36-year-old Robbie Williams doesn't come from a long line of harness racing participants but made his debut to driving in the 2007/08 season, now driven a total of 369 winners, including Group 1 back in 2012 with his then two-year-old filly Lucky Joy taking out the $100,000 State Sires Series.
He later went on to take out his trainer's licence in the 2008/09 season with a total of 171 training wins to his name, his biggest thrill in the industry with his Group 1 win with Lucky Joy.
"When I was fairly young my parents used to go to the trots to watch and I would go as well and liked it,
"Then me and Chris Voak played footy together and we wouldn't go to the trots with his family."
With his involvement now firmly engrained, Williams led the charge that saw Louie Vee and Mysta Moon Walker purchased at last year's APG Yearling Sales.
Louie Vee placed second in this years $125,000 2YO Colts and Geldings Sales Classic, going down narrowly to The Bettor Side for trainer/driver Aiden De Campo.
Mysta Moon Walker finished up in fourth placing, driven by Chris Voak.
Both horses have head to the paddock for a rest with the aim to target the bigger feature races later in the year.
With just the one yearling purchased at this year's sales, Williams walked away with Lot 425 (Stay Hungry US x Bettorgrinanbarit colt for $42,000 presented by Sea Horse Racing Stables.
