Jim Byrne closes gap on Jeff Lloyd in premiership race after riding four winners at Doomben

FATE smiled kindly on Jim Byrne at Doomben on Wednesday as troublesome mare Tina Melina became Tegan Harrison’s problem in the Ramornie Handicap at Grafton.

FATE smiled kindly on Jim Byrne at Doomben on Wednesday as troublesome mare Tina Melina became Tegan Harrison’s problem in the Ramornie Handicap at Grafton.

Byrne booted home four winners at Doomben to get within 2½ wins of premiership frontrunner Jeff Lloyd with five meetings remaining, while Tina Melina was a late scratching from the Ramornie, which was won by former Hong Kong horse Smart Volatility.

Byrne readily admitted it was “a good day at the office” but it could have been altogether different if he had stuck with his initial plan.

“Originally I was going to Grafton to ride Tina Melina in the Ramornie,” he said. “But I thought it just wasn’t right if I didn’t have a decent crack at this premiership. I knew Tony (Gollan) had a pretty good team coming here and I was pretty confident of having a big day.

“I would have been ropeable had I gone to Grafton instead.”

Byrne’s four Doomben winners were all for Gollan, who moved to 84½ metropolitan wins in another record-breaking season.

The pair could have had a fifth but stewards rightly ­dismissed an objection from Byrne on second-placed Hi I’m Back against Johnhro in the seventh event.

Tina Melina, who has been pulled out at the barrier several times in her career, and Decision Time were both late scratchings from the Ramornie in which Hall Of Fame jockey Robert Thompson was narrowly denied a fifth win in the famous country sprint.

Thompson looked certain to score on 2014 winner Big Money, but Smart Volatility, now in the care of John Sargent, dug deep to win, with Pat Duff’s Steel Zip running a brave third.

Jim Byrne made the right call to ride at Doomben on Wednesday. Picture: Tara Croser.

Smart Volatility had previously matched motors with some of the best sprinters in Hong Kong and this was just his second start since returning to Australia.

In Melbourne, trainer Darren Weir capped a historic 12 months by eclipsing the previous Commonwealth record, as Gun Case became his 335th winner for the season.

The record had been held by John Hawkes for the past 13 seasons.

“It’s been a big season,’’ Weir said. “The Melbourne Cup, six Group one races, 100 city winners and now this. It’s right up there with those feats.”

â–  EXILED jockey Danny Nikolic has had alternative dates of September 12 and October 3 set aside for the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing into whether he will be relicensed by Racing Victoria.

The Victorian control body has argued Nikolic is not “a fit and proper person” to hold a riding licence, while Nikolic will argue the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn his ban from racetracks, which was imposed by Victoria Police, should pave the way for him to return to the sport.

Originally published as Jim Byrne closes gap on Jeff Lloyd in premiership race after riding four winners at Doomben