It came after stablemate, three-year-old filly, Lady Of Shadows won the first race on the card – the 1,370m Nambucca Hotel Bottlemart Maiden Plate.

The Popp-trained duo’s victories also rewarded jockey Andrew Woods, who had driven from Mudgee to ride the pair.

Popp was unsure whether Lady Of Shadows would handle the heavy track at Bowraville, but she went to the lead on leaving the straight and was never headed from then on.

The trainer had no such concerns about Bigger Than’s wet track form, and the six-year-old raced away to win by almost ten lengths in the Jeff Ballard and vindicate his wife Christine’s decision to purchase the winner of three-in-a-row during the week.

Ballina trainer Danny Bowen extended his lead in the Westlawn Finance NRRA premiership by also bagging a winning double with gelding Dowden in the Benchmark 55 Nambucca Hotel Handicap (1,370) and stayer Eye Might, who easily won the 2,200m Jacob’s Creek Benchmark 50 test of stamina.

Both the Bowen-trained winners were ridden by Marlon Dolendo.

The Nambucca Hotel Drive-In Maiden (1,000m) was taken out by Kempsey gelding Mucho Gracias and Coffs apprentice rider Michael Fitzgerald.

Although the weather was showery and the crowd smaller than usual, the Bowraville track held up well despite being downgraded to a ‘Heavy 9’ during the meeting, and everyone had another great day.

The next race meeting at Bowraville will be on Saturday, April 17, for a huge charity fund-raiser hosted by the Macksville Ex-Service’s Club.