A week in the life of Mitch Hutchings - it's a pretty wild ride!
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Hutchings got married on Saturday to his wife Sara, had a trots winner in Bathurst on Wednesday and scored the winning goal for the Parkes Cobras in the dying moments to round the week out.
Hutchings, and several teammates, missed the Cobras opening game while he married now-wife Sara Voveris, though the side still managed to get the chocolates 2-0 against Workies in Lithgow.
On Wednesday Hutchings took Group 1 winner Terryrama, a seven-year-old gelding out of Western Terror v Nellirama, to Bathurst, where the runner duly saluted having been smashed into $34 after opening at $71.
Trained by his father Malcolm, Hutchings said despite the steep opening price, the team was confident the gelding could get the job done in the Barkers Butchery Pace.
"It's the only one we took there on Wednesday and it got up at $71...she's been a big week," he said.
"He's going good. I went there pretty confident because he's been working the track really well, and he went from $71 to $34.
"We'll put him away for now out in the paddock and get him ready for the Group 1 in May," said Hutchings.
Terryrama settled in the middle of the field as soon as the arms folded back with Blake Micallef in the gig, who stayed three back for much of the race before Micallef drew four wide on the back straight.
The gelding showed a devastating turn of foot to gobble up the leaders in quick time, eventually winning by 9.5 metres ahead of Oursouthernstar ($5.50) in a swift 1:58.9 - and is sure to be featuring heavily in blackbooks everywhere after the impressive win ahead of a crack at yet another Group 1.
It wasn't just any winning goal Hutchings struck, either. It was an absolutely cracker that curled into the top net from outside box as the Cobras secured a 3-2 win over Orange CYMS in the Western Premier League (WPL) with just two minutes left.
You'd think this was one of the better goals the former NSW Country and Western Mariners representative would have scored, even given his fleet-footed skills up front.
Nope.
"I have scored a better goal than that actually, I scored a cracker from my own half for the Western Mariners one game where I chipped the keeper which was a screamer - but today's is best goal I've scored for a very long time," Hutchings joked to the Parkes Champion Post after the Cobras game.
"It sure felt good, alright. It was perfect!"
It was a brilliant way to cap off a busy week for the multi-talented sportsman, with the Cobras scoring two goals in the final 10 minutes of the game to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Hutchings also earned the penalty which tied the scores up, and was a nightmare for the CYMS defence all afternoon in damp conditions.
Unfortunately for the boys in purple, and fortunately for central defenders all around the WPL, Hutchings will only be playing every second week after getting a new job in the mines - but one thing's for sure, he'll make every minute count.
