Champion jockey Greg Ryan has 10 Gilgandra Cups in his collection and he enjoyed another memorable day at the Castlereagh River track on Saturday.
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Ryan booted home four of the seven winners, going past the post first with Pass The Card, Pop Power, Lucky Elixer, and Head On.
All were great tactical rides with the exhibition on the 10-yearold Lucky Elixer an exceptional one in the Gilgandra Services Club Benchmark 50 Handicap (1800m).
Coming from last approaching the short home straight, the Michael Mulholland-trained Lucky Elixer ($3.20 favourite) was urged through gaps by Ryan and burst clear to win by five lengths from Zagaya (Julia Presits, $7) and Snipselva (Shane Arnold, $8.50).
In contrast, the first winner on the day with Sue Grills' Pass The Card ($2.40 fav.) came from a wide barrier and was quickly away to race close to the lead before scoring by almost three lengths from Knight Driver (Tony Cavallo, $21) and Magic Stan (Julia Presits, $7.50) in the Gilgandra Sporting Club Maiden Handicap (1100m).
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Pop Power won the Bruce Parker Maiden Plate (1550m) by almost five lengths for Bathurst's Wanda Ings while completing the haul was the Peter Sinclair-trained Head On ($3.80 fav.) in the National Jockey's Trust Benchmark 50 Handicap (1100m).
Head On came from near the back of the field to score in a close finish from Plectrum (Nyssa Burrells, $8) and Sestina (Liam Blanch, $10).
Ryan has been at the top of the tree for a long time, Ronald Simpson is a talented apprentice starting to make his mark in the sport.
Apprenticed to Brett Thompson at Gulgong, Simpson showed his talents in a well-judged front-running ride with Denace at Gilgandra.
Denace ($1.70 favourite) beat the fast-finishing Oakfield General (Kate Cowan, $16) and Cutie Patoutie (Kath Bell-Pitomac, $26) in the Inland Petroleum Class 2 Handicap.
Nerida and Rodger Atkinson from Yeoval own Denace and they also own the Gayna Williams-trained Griffin's Gaze, winner of the Gilgandra Newspapers Benchmark 50 Handicap (1100m).
In the final stride Griffin's Gaze (Daniel Northey, $15) edged out Baby Merlin (Julia Presits, $4.60) to win by a nose with a half-neck to third-placed Bid To Fame (Vad Bolozhinskyi, $4.20 fav).
Dubbo trainer Kody Nestor and his apprentice Cowan combined to win the final event, the Kelly and Astill Lawyers Benchmark 58 Handicap (1550m) with Five Star Gal ($6).
Five Star Gal wore down Vogue Empress (Blanch, $19) to prevail by a long neck with Danigree (Jacob Golden, $12) in third.