A brilliant beginning from Alby Two Chains ($2.30 fav) has seen Brighton trainer Tammy Langley add another cup for 2025 to her trophy cabinet in the 2025 McLaughlin Family North Eastern Pacing Cup at Scottsdale on Friday.
Langley prepared Impulze to victory in the St Marys Cup on New Year's Day, with her daughter Tarn Ford in the sulky, but this time, it was her son Dylan Ford who took the winning drive.
Dylan got the pacer to step cleanly from outside of the front row to lead, and was able to fend off a late challenge by Windy Hanover ($5) to score by a neck, with Diamonds N Cash ($13) a further eight meters away third in a mile rate of 2:07.9s, but the last-half mile was recorded in 57.6s.
Alby Two Chains was sent out as the favourite in the St Marys Cup at his first start for the Langley stable when he was fourth, with Dylan indicating that the stable learned some lessons from that race.
"He was probably a victim of circumstances at St Marys. He missed the start, and we didn't have (hopple shortening) pins in him, but we rectified that today.
"He still felt like he was going to win at St Marys but he got checked on the home corner and still ran fourth," said Dylan.
"It's a credit to the horse. He has had a big week and is only a day-to-day proposition. We didn't get the work into him that we would have liked, but he was still able to lift off the canvas.
"He didn't really handle the tight track, he wanted to run around a bit, and he got a bit lost, and he still had the ability to win," the winning driver said.
Dylan indicated the former Tasmanian Derby winner would be aimed at next weekend's Burnie Cup.
The win completed a double for the Ford and Langley combination, which had also won earlier in the night with Diamondsnblue ($3.90).
Trainer Wayne Yole and driver Mitch Ford kicked off the program on a winning note, wining the first three races with Park Lane ($17), Rocks Roy ($5) and Oneofthelads ($3.30 fav)
Local trainer and club president Kent Rattray had a night out on his local track with a double after the wins of Colby Sanz ($6) for Kayleb Williams before Rattray teamed up with veteran driver John Walters to record a narrow win with Karalta Artemis ($6.50) in the night's final race.
