Bookmakers had some hefty payouts after the Wayne Prisk (Cobar) trained Vonnida landed a betting plunge in the Trilby Station Stay and Sullivan’s Mining & Hardware Benchmark 55 Handicap (1,200 metres) at Louth on Saturday.
Raced by a syndicate from the Cobar Camels Rugby Union Club, Vonnida ($6 to $3.60 favourite) with Jake Pracey-Homes in the saddle, led for home and won by nearly two lengths from More Than Art (Chelsea Ings $3.80) and Maximoo (Katelyn Jenkinson, $10).
Pracey-Holmes achieved a career best five winners when riding before the massive crowd on Saturday at the iconic outback race meeting.
The haul for the young Gulgong based jockey included the $12,000 Landmark Louth Cup winner, eight year old mare Streak On.
A last start Geelong winner, Streak On was recently purchased from Victorian stables with the specific intention to win the 2000 metres Louth Cup.
The syndicate comprised Scott Waters from Somerton, Mark Ward from Condobolin and professional bull riders Tom Henry, Riley Gibson and Ethan Watts from the northern tablelands.
Over recent weeks Streak On was trained by Sue Grills at Somerton near Tamworth.
After setting the pace, Streak On ($3 to $2.30 favourite) was headed turning for home but fought back to win by a short head from Sword Fighter (Chelsea Ings, $13) with Strike Zone (Simone Vella, $17) finishing third.
Following the Cup, Streak On was sold at auction for $4,000.
The other winners for Jake Pracey-Homes were the Chris Heywood, Wagga Wagga trained I’ll Tell Ya ($7), the Brett Thompson, Gulgong trained I’m Ticking Over ($6.50) and Worthy Rival ($3) trained by Wayne Collison from Narromine.
Golden Twist, a recent addition to the Barry Molloy stable at Forbes after a sole win with three previous trainers, was a convincing winner of the McDonald & Co Woolbuyers Class 1 Handicap (1,000 metres) at Louth.
Owned by George Tanks from Parkes and ridden by Dubbo apprentice Kaylee Kirkwood, Golden Twist ($5) led all the way and won by over two lengths from Coop ‘N’ Demp (Rasit Yetimova, $17) and Dublin Dan (Nyssa Burrells, $3.50 favourite).
Ridden by Dubbo jockey Ken Dunbar, the Rodger Waters, Wantabadgery trained grey gelding Gagarin ($4.60) was a strong winner of the Clyde Cotton Ginning Class 2 Handicap (1,400 metres) from Calibrium (Ethan Kacmaz, $13) and Eskimo King (Simone Vella, $3.80).—Colin Hodges
