Wellington trainer Michael Mulholland warmed up for a crack at Sunday's Cowra Cup by scoring an early double at his home track on Friday.
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Mulholland scored race-to-race double with Dubbo Wanderer and Lord Of The Turf in Friday in a meeting which was added to the calendar only this week following a number of recent washouts in the Central and Western districts.
After Kora Magic ($11) took out the opening event at Wellington Jockey Club, Mulholland took centre as Dubbo Wanderer (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $4.60) held off $2.30 favourite Astrolith to score his first win in career start number three.
Lord Of The Turf then took out the (Ken Dunbar, $5.50) KFC Wellington and Forbes Benchmark 58 Handicap (1700m) and he could be in for a busy few days as he's also down to race in Sunday's $34,000 Cowra Cup (1700m).
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Should he recover well, Lord Of The Turf will have Richard Bensley in the saddle when he goes around in Sunday's main event.
The other event on Sunday will be the Cowra Japan Cup and Andrew Molloy is out to continue his love affair with that event.
Molloy won four straight Cowra Japan Cups with Zarhron and on Sunday he'll saddle up Just A Flash in the dash. The $30,000 Cowra Japan Cup (1200m) has again attracted a handy field, with Just A Flash to meet the likes of Dubbo hopes Westlink, Elusive Eagle and California Fox - trained by Darren Hyde, Clint Lundholm, and Ashely Gibson respectively - as well as The Long Run from the Wellington stables of Peter Stanley.
Zarhron won the event from 2016-19 for Molloy before finishing a narrow second as a 10-year-old in one of his final races in 2020.
Mathew Cahill will ride Just A Flash on Sunday and the short-distance specialist heads into the event having run fifth last time out at Canberra.
Bombdiggity, from the Goulburn stables of Scott Collings, and the Tony Sergi-trained Oriental Runner shared $3.60 favouritism on Friday.
Bombdiggity was handed a hefty 63kg top weight after winning the Snake Gully Flying (1000m) and Moruya Town Plate (1010m) while he ran third in the Gilgandra Town Plate (1100m) last start.
Collings has booked apprentice Jackson Searle for Sunday's ride and his 2kg claim will make life easier for the six-year-old.
"The last bit of the 1200m with big weights has always been the query - at 900m or 1000m short course sprinters can cope, but I still think it's a nice race for him," Collings told Racing NSW.
"He's a natural leader, that's our plan, he relaxes in races and hopefully we might be able to give them the slip with that short run home.
"We looked around and this race was the best option at the weights. On form, I don't think this race is as strong as Moruya or Gilgandra."
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