RACING - Winning ways - and it's all in the family

They swear the conversation at the family dinner table never gets niggly.
But when it comes to sorting out the pecking order, Christmas lunch must be interesting at the Collett household - packed to the gunnels with jockeys who make a living by riding horses around race tracks.
Today might be a bit different though, because the Colletts are celebrating a special achievement.
Tasha Collett, her brother Jason and their cousin Samantha scored a remarkable treble at the Whangarei Races yesterday by finishing first, second and third in a maiden race at Ruakaka.
It is a feat nobody could recall being achieved before at a New Zealand race meet and a treble the Colletts were obviously keen to celebrate.
There is always banter but, after yesterday, Jason reckons they finally had a chance to celebrate the family racing connections like never before.
"We are all competing for the same prize, and are all super competitive on the track, but off it we are family and get on really well.
"There is never a shortage of either encouragement or advice, nothing that has ever happened on the track has stopped us enjoying dinner together at night," Jason said.
It got a bit silly yesterday though as the three Colletts charged into the home straight and glanced sideways to see where the enemy was.
The race, the Denby Catering 1400m, was won by Tasha on Bullet Proof, with Samantha second on Carnegie King and Jason third on Keepherperky. But at the top of the straight Jason was the best placed, hunting down his cousin Samantha with his sister Tasha looking like her race was done.
But in the sprint home it was Jason who got left behind.
The Colletts have a strong racing pedigree. Samantha is the daughter of Jim and Trudy Collett, who are both very successful jockeys in their own right, especially Jim who has ridden more than 1000 winners in New Zealand.
Samantha has even ridden against both her parents and declared that she beats them home most of the time. Jason and Tasha are the siblings of Richard and Judy Collett, both former jockeys and now successful trainers.
It wasn't the only race featuring the Colletts yesterday, either.
The very next race on the card, the Mitavite 1400m, Samantha won riding Electrify with Tasha second on Mystabrett.
Samantha and Jason also got first and third respectively in an earlier race.
Whangarei Racing Club chairman Dean Logan said the Colletts were a well-known and widely respected racing family.
A modest crowd attended but trainers keen to give their horses a competitive workout on the sand-based turf ensured good fields for all 10 races on the card.
A horse called Nice and Natural, ridden by Rogan Norvball and trained out of Avondale by Davina Waddell, won the feature race, the 2100m Oceanz Seafood maiden.
The next Whangarei Racing Club meet is the "Fashion in the Fields" meet on September 13.