WIMMERA jockey Dean Yendall stormed home on Saturday for a well-constructed yet thrilling feature race victory in the Murtoa Cup, capping off a day that included two other winners and four more podium finishes.
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Yendall paired with Ballarat trainer Darren Weir, triumphing on-board five-year-old gelding Rainbow Storm, sitting behind the early pace-setters before scorching home in the final 100 metres.
He won Saturday’s first running – a 1600-metre Maiden Plate – with four-year-old mare Hors La Lois, and followed his Cup win with a victory on-board five-year-old gelding Treasure Map in a 2050-metre 0-58 Handicap. Yendall started well in the Cup with Rainbow Storm, jumping out of barrier two to sit against the inside fence in the early going.
He settled in a group of four that separated themselves from the main field.
Christine Puls-ridden Peculatus set the pace as the race neared its mid-way point, as Diamond Duke – ridden by fellow Wimmera jockey Holly McKechnie – kept in touch in second place. But Yendall was perfectly patient, timing his charge to the centimetre.
He clawed his way to the lead as the post beckoned, scraping past Peculatus by half a length, as Mister Moneypenny pipped First Bloom for third and McKechnie’s Diamond Duke faded late to finish in fifth.
It was a day of near misses for Puls, Yendall’s better half, who also raced Consul Reef to a third-placed finish in Saturday’s final race.
Yendall’s two runner-up finishes could have easily been winners.
In race three’s 1200-metre BM70 Handicap, he was again patient on-board Sol Brilliant, but was cornered on the inside.
By the time he made his run, it was too late, as the Dean Holland-ridden Sari skipped away to win by a length and a half.
In the 1100-metre BM64 Handicap – race five – Yendall was pipped by barely half a length on the line after a stirring late-race charge.
Stawell trainer Terry O’Sullivan also tasted success at Murtoa, with New Zealand gelding Castle Hackett storming home in Saturday’s second race, to win a 1200-metre Maiden Plate.