A rare foray to Mudgee Race Club for Gai Waterhouse has paid dividends with her four-year-old gelding Penske claiming the $40,000 Gooree Cup over 1600 metres on Saturday.
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The four-year-old Sebring x Princess Natural progeny had been in good form with a fourth at Warwick Farm earlier this month preceded by a seconds at Kembla Grange and Newcastle and a win at Wyong.
As a result, he left the barriers at Mudgee Racecourse barriers as a $2.70 chance and as it turned out, the short odds were accurate.
There was also plenty of discussion about David Smith’s Bezel prior to the jump and it started on the second line of betting at $4.20, ahead of Pat Farrell’s Alliterate ($4.70).
Bezel would ultimately finish third, behind Jarrod Austin’s Hirokin ($17) the winner of the event in 2017.
Gai Waterhouse wasn’t trackside but Heath Farish was there in her absence and wasn’t expecting Penske to run as well as he did.
“He jumped towards the lead, was relaxed and found the line very well,” Farish said.
“It was a very well-ridden race.”
Last year Hirokin was happy to sit in second before making a late run to claim the win. This time, Jake Pracey-Holmes got him out to an early lead of a length, ahead of Alliterate and Penske.
Bezel dropped to the rear of the field from the start and spent the first half of the race there before moving forward in the closing stages.
With 600 metres left to run, Penske had dropped two lengths behind the leaders but it allowed jockey Quade Krogh to get him in the clear as they came into the home straight.
All eight runners were still in the mix with 200 metres to run but Penske had hit his straps, along with Bezel, who had more ground to make up.
Hirokin gave a valiant run, but just fell behind Waterhouse’s runner in the final 50 metres, eventually finishing half a length behind.
Bezel had pace but was a further head behind in third, while Alliterate fell away to finish two lengths further back.
Farish hasn’t seen all of Penske’s races but the scouting report is that he always jumps fast.
“He’s usually a front and on the pace sort of runner,” he said.
Celebrations will be on the cards for Penske’s crew in the short-term future but Farish says it will need to see how the horse pulls up before making any distant plans.
“Gai will look at the horse and decide where to go from there,” he said.
Waterhouse got a second with Diamond Star Halo in the Gooree Cellar and Pantry Benchmark 55 Handicap, while Mudgee trainer Gayna Williams got a winning double.