Paul Theobald was left thrilled when he trained four winners at one meeting for the first time earlier this month, but his sole victory at his hometrack of Bathurst on Saturday left him just as delighted.
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Theobald, fresh from the four winners at the Gosford Picnics on Melbourne Cup Day, saw battle-hardened veteran Dunderry salute in a thrilling finish in Saturday’s last race.
It was all the way back in January of 2011 when Dunderry made an inauspicious debut when running last at Warwick Farm and in his next eight starts he ran a frustrating six seconds and two thirds for Theobald and the fellow owners.
Dunderry cracked it for the first win when scoring on a very heavy track at Orange but was still playing second fiddle to stablemate Dragons Keep, who went on to be named the Central Districts ‘Horse Of The Year’.
Dunderry is now a 10-year-old with 13 wins and 29 placings from 107 starts and displayed admirable fighting qualities when repelling every challenge on Saturday in the Bathurst Toyota Benchmark 58 Handicap (1200m).
Dubbo jockey Ken Dunbar has recorded the majority of wins on Dunderry however was unavailable due to a suspension and Adrian Robinson took the reins.
Dunderry led for home and was then chased down the straight by Winterconi and after they hit the line there was a lengthy delay while the judge studied the photo finish.
Official margin was a nose in favour of Dunderry ($9) from Winterconi (Mathew Cahill, $3.60) with a half length to third placed Marbrouk (Daniel Pitomac, $15).
Although placed numerous times, Dunderry had not won for more than 30 starts. His most recent victories had been in the ANZAC Day Sprint in 2016 and the and the Bill Aspros Sprint (1200m) in February 2016, both of those races with Ken Dunbar in the saddle at the Bathurst track.
Dubbo trainer Garry Lunn continued his good recent form with a win at Bathurst.
Trained by Garry and owned by his brother, Wayne ‘Bronco’ Lunn, Bemboka took out the Kennards Hire Class 1 and Maiden Plate (2000m).
Under strong riding from Mathew Cahill, Bemboka ($4.80) came from midfield to win the event from Cadeyrn (Brandon Griffiths, $4.40), from the Wellington stables of Michael Mulholland, and the Lee Van Den Bos-trained Cat Walk Queen (Greg Ryan, $3.80 favourite).
Champion jockey Greg Ryan miossed out in that race with the favourite but he did score with a pair of fancied gallopers early in the meeting.
Ryan rode the winners of the first two races, both for Rosehill trainer Richard Freedman. The first was onboard Bennelong ($2.30) while the second was with $1.65 hope Delight.
