The warmer weather helped attract a large crowd to Saturday's Whangarei Racing Club's meeting at Ruakaka.
A few annoying showers throughout the day did not hamper exciting racing on a track, which withstood recent wet weather very well.
The Caltex Fuelzone Whangarei Cup was won by Ace High, trained by the Logans
and bred by Dr Dirk Oberholster, the club's on-course doctor, and club patron Les Donaldson.
The richest race of the day was the $30,000 Aussie Butcher Fillies and Mares Series Final won by Highlight, trained by Frank Ritchie at Cambridge and part-owned by Northlander Terry Archer.
Hastings trainer John Bary was rewarded for his long trek when one of his two charges, Defiant, won the Cox Plate-sponsored 2100m event.
The Kenny Rae-trained Flash Hapi showed his class when winning the Fell Engineering 1200 by over two lengths. Flash Hapi is part-owned by Rae, and the club's president John Fairley.
Another Ruakaka trainer, Derek Allen, took out the More FM 1200 with El Menear.
After setting up a big lead early in the race the rest of the field found it impossible to catch her.
Allen would have been one of the happiest people on course at Ruakaka as this was his first win as a trainer, having gained his trainers licence less than 12 months ago.
El Menear is bred and owned by brothers Rodney and Alton Heaslip. Alton is Allen's father and Rodney was a successful jockey during the 1960s.
Allen has been involved in the thoroughbred racing industry for more than 20 years and also holds a trotting trainer's licence.
He is a valued member of the staff at the Logan Stables.
The eye-catching run of the day was returned by Aimees Gold in the Westbury Stud 2YO Series.
Beaten by the outstanding FieldofDreams and the Logan-trained Writteninthestars, Aimees Gold held on for a courageous third place after initially setting up the lead. It was a great effort for Vince Roberts who bred, owned and trains.
The Whangarei Racing Club's next meeting is this Saturday at Ruakaka.
The Project Promise Country and Western-themed race day comes complete with a Hoedown Ploughmans lunch for patrons.
