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Hawkesbury trainer Craig Weeding, nearing the first anniversary of his breakthrough as a trainer, went to great lengths to achieve a win at Tamworth on January 4 – and not just in terms of distance travelled.

Weeding took three horses to the Tamworth meeting, and scored with recent acquisition Single Zero in the Maiden Plate (1200m) for fillies and mares.

It was his third success this season, having won with debutant Caliera Gem on his home track on September 1 and again at Taree 15 days later.

But it took a real effort on Weeding’s part to get Single Zero to win her first race.

Purchased by a friend of the trainer after doing her earlier racing in Victoria (she had raced only four times for a Bairnsdale placing in a field of five last May), the Pendragon mare has certainly been a work in progress.

She ran third over 1100m at Nowra at her first start for Weeding, then backed up a week later on her home track and attracted the attention of stewards after finishing eighth to Bad Boy For Love in another 1100m Maiden.

“Single Zero hung in badly in the straight, and stewards ruled that she would have to barrier trial to their satisfaction before being allowed to race again,” Weeding explained today.

“I did some dressage work with her to help straighten her out, and stewards cleared her after running third in a Warwick Farm trial (740m) on December 27.”

Weeding set his sights on the Tamworth race, and wisely decided to break the long trip into two stages to try and beat the heat.

“I left on Thursday afternoon and stopped over with friends at Lochinvar that night, then went on to Tamworth the next morning,” he said.

“It was a very hot drive back home on Saturday, but the cooler weather today has been appreciated by everyone, and the horses as well.”

Weeding, who breaks-in and pre-trains horses and has 10 in work, took out his licence toward the end of the 2015-16 season.

He celebrated a breakthrough victory at Queanbeyan on January 27 last year with Chocolate Coated, who has since been retired and mated with the I Am Invincible stallion Super One at Newgate Farm in the Hunter Valley.

Weeding won five races last season, and called on one of his winning jockeys, talented North-West apprentice Wendy Peel, to partner Single Zero.

She scored on another mare, Operose, for him at Dubbo on July 7 last year in a Benchmark 65 Handicap (1010m), and did the job again.

Single Zero broke through at her seventh start, defeating $101 outsider Flying Cosmos and $6 chance Queens.

Weeding’s other Tamworth representatives were Chekkapen ($15), who finished fourth in the Class 2 Handicap (1600m), and unplaced Choice Harvest ($7) in the Benchmark 66 Handicap (1200m).

. Hawkesbury apprentice Chelsea Ings continued her successful comeback, scoring again at today’s Gilgandra Cup meeting on the same horse which provided her with a return winner at the same track on New Year’s Day.

Ings, who only resumed riding early last month after fracturing the talus bone in her right ankle at Port Macquarie in May, won the Benchmark 66 Handicap (1280m) on Gilgandra-trained Sugar Lane ($3.10 favorite).

She had won a Benchmark 50 Handicap over the same course last Tuesday on the six-year-old mare.

Ing’s victory today was a milestone in her career, being her 50th winner. She rode 25 winners last season until the Port Macquarie incident prematurely ended what was easily her most successful year in the saddle.