At his first visit to Coonamble since 2004, Danny Williams won the $75,000 Geronimo-New Holland Agriculture Coonamble Cup on Sunday.
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Reared at Coonamble where his father Harry Williams was a leading jockey, Danny Williams was also a talented jockey before becoming established as a high profile trainer at Goulburn.
He won Sunday's feature event with $13 chance Petaluma, giving jockey Daniel Northey one of the biggest victories of his career in the process.
Petaluma came from midfield in the 1600 metres cup, powered down the centre of the track to score by a neck from Mo's Glory (Reece Jones, $5.50) with a short-head to the third-placed dead-heaters Toulon Brook (Tony Cavallo, $4) and Kacper Boy (Mikayla Weir, $26).
Earlier, the Williams-trained grey gelding My Blue Jeans had won the $40,000 Loch Lomond Border Leicester Stud Baradine Cup (1400m), run as a Benchmark 66 Handicap.
From near the tail of the field, My Blue Jeans (Aaron Bullock, $10) worked home strongly to win in a three way photo finish from Sea Lady (Rachael Murray, $16) and So Good To Me (Clayton Gallagher, $4.60), the margins being a head by a head.
Even closer was the finish to the 1200 metres Keady Family Crystal Sprint when the Rodney Robb-trained Thermosa (Clayton Gallagher, $2.90 favourite) came from behind the leaders and burst through a gap to beat Beacon (Billy Cray, $18) by a half-head with a further head margin to Molasses (Aaron Bullock, $13).
The day had begun well for the local when the Ian Holland-trained $31 outsider and hometown hope Glover set the pace, was headed in the straight, then fought back to win the Dad & Dave Turf and Evergreen Turf Maiden Handicap (1300m) from Activation (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $2.80 to $1.80 favourite) and Post Free (Ashley Morgan, $11).
A lightly raced seven year old gelding, Glover is owned by Michael Kennedy and Libby Kennedy from Come By Chance and Caroline Smith from the Gold Coast.
Featuring a field of 15, the $50,000 Nalder Family Country Magic Class 3 Handicap over 1600 metres was won by the Mary Moses, Scone trained Chambermaid (Vad Bolozhinskyi, $4).
Chambermaid led from the outset and lasted to beat the fast finishing Eva's Deel (Tony Cavallo, $5.50) and Lady Riz (Mathew Cahill, $91).
The Michael Lunn, Dubbo trained Witness Collector (Mikayla Weir, $7.50) also led in the Southern Cross Turf Class 2 Handicap (1100m) and fought on gamely to beat Kootaloo (Alysha Collett, $10) and Kings Champ (Elissa Meredith, $4.80 fav.).
Other winners at the highly successful cup meeting were the David Smith, Mudgee trained The Poet (Daniel Northey, $3.30) and Crackerjack Kenny (Greg Ryan, $2 fav.) from the Kevin Dixon stable at Tamworth.