The highlight of the day came in the Terry Brothers Maiden Pace in the first race, where local driver, 16-year-old Laura Rusten piloted You Look Well for her father Darryle Rusten.

The driver-trainer pair combined for Laura's first ever winner on the June 7 meeting here in Parkes, and the youngster was delighted to snare victory with another huge upset. You Look Well paid $47.40 on the TAB Tote, and the way he sprouted wings and flew up the middle in the shadows of the post was a joy to watch.

The Langlands Hanlon Pace was the most exciting race of the day in race 2, with the photo finish between Limbo Larry and Two Five Eight so close that driver Blake Jones requested to see the final image. Limbo Larry managed to hang on by the barest of margins on the inside for Bathurst trainer-driver Jed Betts; recording its first win since June 2019.

Local runners had the placings sewn up in the Parkes Leagues Club Maiden Pace, with Preacher Quince for Stephen Dowton finishing strongly behind the well supported Bell River Boy. The Malcolm Hutchings trained Whisper Her Name popped up on the inside to place at the very healthy Tote place odds of $8.60.

Another close photo finish ensued in the TAB Odds & Evens Pace, where Mister Mysterious held on by a half neck to defeat Valenteeno.

David Reynolds, trainer of Mister Mysterious was quietly confident leading into the race.

"We went into the race thinking that if he led he would win that but the only worry about him is the tight turns, where he gets on top of himself a bit. We just had to get him around that last turn, and the other one got around him for a bit but then he fought back on the straight," he said.

Two Grenfell trained runners managed to secure the quinella in the Col Fletcher Ford Pace, with the impressive Mighty Joe pulling away in the straight to record a comfortable victory over Holy Camp Rob. Mighty Joe has now placed in each of his last four starts, winning two; and the mile splits are starting to look very impressive.

The last three races of the day saw the short-priced favourites get up on each occasion, with Holy Camp Paxton, Bid for Red and Bella Ball Terror all cruising to victory to close out the day. Bella Ball Terror, trained by Bernie Hewitt near Bathurst, in particular is starting to build some nice form after victories in two of his last three runs.

The next meeting at the Parkes Harness Racing Club will be on July 19.