If things had gone differently on Sunday night, Caitlyn Keeping may well have been enjoying the first days of her retirement right now.
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Instead, trainer Charmaine Roberts is still on a high after the veteran bitch provided her with a first Dubbo Gold Cup victory.
Caitlyn Keeping blitzed an incredibly competitive $12,250 Gold Cup Final (516m) at Dawson Park, flying out of the boxes and going on to win by a simply dominant eight-and-a-quarter-lengths.
It completed a feature double for Roberts after she also took out the Peg and Bill Memorial Final (516m) with Don't Mind Me.
"I don't think I've ever won the cup but I won the Bill and Peg with Lexie (Keeping) a couple of years ago," leading hometown trainer Roberts said.
"It's been a huge night for us."
Caitlyn Keeping went into the final having run fourth in her heat, one won in style by Jimmy Casey.
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That meant she jumped a $9 chance in the feature but given the class of the field she was never considered a real outsider.
A noted front-runner, Caitlyn Keeping powered to the early lead and after many of the other main hopes checked each other Roberts' hope was able to kick clear down the back straight.
She built that lead as she rounded the bend for home and went on to win comfortably in 29.56 seconds, making it 20 wins from 49 career starts.
"She's got to get out in front. If she does, you've just got to hope they check behind and she can scoot away a little," Roberts said.
"Last week she just didn't come out brilliant, got checked and then got in front and they were camped behind her and were too strong. Peter Carr's dog (Jimmy Casey) ran over the top of her but tonight they got checked so that helped."
The trainer added there's no concrete plans for Caitlyn Keeping moving forward, as Sunday night's race was always going to be a main focus.
"Honestly, I said to (partner) Shayne (Stiff) if she didn't run it out tonight we were looking at retiring her because we're going to breed with her," Roberts said.
"We'll go home and talk about it."
The Paul Braddon-trained Double Up Dee ($12.50) produced an almighty run home to finish second while Irinka Lizzy ($7.20), ran third for Forbes' Raymond Smith.
The $3.20 favourite Tap Out Dusty finished last, one spot behind Jimmy Casey.
Caitlyn Keeping's win came shortly after Don't Mind Me had gone within a fraction of a second of the track record in the $12250 Peg and Bill Memorial.
Don't Mind Me justified his status as a $1.60 favourite when springing clear from the eight box and controlling proceedings.
He went on to win by three-and-a-quarter lengths from Spring Falcon ($28.20) and Fusion Kiss ($7.40) in a time of 29.28 seconds.
Roberts, one of the leading trainers in country NSW, paid tribute to her hard-working team after the success on Sunday, praising the efforts of those who most people wouldn't be aware of.
"There's always someone helping us," she said.
"We've got a big team and we can't do it without them."
Braddon's Little Zig Zag won the night's other final, taking out the Ladbrokes 1-4 Wins Final (318m).
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Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
