Nangar Polly has produced one of the biggest feature race boilovers in recent memory to claim the 2026 Ladbrokes Country Classic (605m) for trainer Arthur Langman.
The daughter of Fernando Bale x Nangar Gold, who went around at a $26 quote, put together a performance for the ages at Dubbo on Saturday night to win in 34.65.
The two-length personal best helping her beat home key local hope Tank Keeping (34.77) and a fast-finishing Magpie Hector (34.88).
“I must have run the race in my head a thousand times and it played out exactly how I hoped it would…which doesn’t usually happen,” Langman laughed after scoring the $100,000 prize.
The 53-year-old forced to wait an extra week to secure his biggest race win, with the initial Country Classic decider postponed due to bad weather.
“It’s been a real rollercoaster with the weather, travel and changing field as well,” Langman said.
“When Zipping Xaden was initially in Box 1, I thought he would give us great cover and help us find the front, so we were confident. But when he was scratched and Canya Ponga came in, we knew the race shape would change a fair bit.”
“We actually thought if Canya Ponga could lead, ‘Polly’ could duck in behind it and take over up the back.”
And that’s exactly what occurred with Nangar Polly steaming to the front at the top of the back straight and forging away for a dominant win.
The writing on the wall after a superb trial performance at Wentworth Park in the lead up to Saturday.
“When they called the initial race off, I knew I had to give her a hit out somewhere because she’d only had two 600m runs in her life and needed another run to top her off,” Langman offered.
“I was going to put her up the straight at Andy Lord’s because it’s a hard 500m run but I ended up trialling her at Wenty Park. I let her go just in front of the boxes and she went 23.87 and ran home in 11.43.”
“Donny Micallef [Wentworth Park track manager] was standing behind the boxes and said, “that was some run”, that’s when I knew she was ready to go.”
“But look at the field she beat. Without A Trace and Magpie Hector are two of the best stayers in the country. Tank Keeping was flying and Ayden’s Warrior has also run in some big races recently.”
The dust still settling on the superb victory over the weekend as Langman and wife Deb Morton aim up at their next target.
“We’ll head towards the 715 at The Gardens…so I’ll got three weeks to take her up there and I’ll just go back a bit further each time and see if she stays,” Langman said.
“We bought her off Andy and Mark Duclos because of the way she was finishing off her races. She was always dashing home and running placings from last or midfield over 520m so I thought she might like further."
“She wouldn’t blow a candle out after her races now so hopefully she can stretch out over 715m.”
The heats of the Ladbrokes 715 will be run at The Gardens on April 24 with the $250,000 final on Friday, May 1.
