OUR Bottino led from start to finish to win the Horsham Cup in a new track record time and spoil the party for the Horsham connections of Magic Consol.
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Trainer and owner Matthew Williams said it was a very pleasing result.
“It was a great run,” he said.
“I was just speaking to Mujadale’s jockey Jack Hill; he sat outside our bloke in second most of the race. I thought they were running along pretty strong and I thought it would take a real good effort to see it out.”
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Our Bottino and Mujadale fought hard to set the pace out of the gate but once it was there jockey Damien Thornton hardly looked back.
By the time field passed the post for the first time in the 1800 metre cup the pack had formed into a line with Thornton’s mount a length in front of Mujadale.
“That’s his go, he likes to roll along after getting going early,” Williams said. “He loves to let the other horses chase him and Damien knows him well.”
Pre-race favourites Magic Consol looked to be in good positions to attack late in the race as they duelled it out for third and fourth halfway through the race.
With 700 metres to go Star Wars, a $15 outsider, started to build up pace as Stawell’s Linda Meech made her move from seventh.
The gelding moved up on inside before jumping out as the field entered the final turn but at the same time Our Bottino had also increased its pace.
“We were relieved Mujadale wasn’t pushing him more earlier because that allowed him to have a couple of cheaper sections,” Williams said.
“That allowed him to be stronger towards the line.”
As the line approached Stars Wars worked hard to close the margin but ultimately ran out of track as Our Bottino held on.
The time of 1.48.90 bettered the track record of 1.49.65 set by Terry and Katrina O’Sullivan’s Happy as Hell in the 2014 Horsham Cup.
Thornton said the race had gone very close to plan.
“He’s a fairly one dimensional horse who likes to control the race on his own terms,” he said.
“We were kept honest in front all day; it was a fairly solidly run race.
“But to his credit he’s a tough horse and Matty has done a real good job with him.”
He said he had been confident the six-year-old gelding would run a very good race.
“The difference between winning and losing was going to be whether or not we could take control,” he said. “Although we didn’t control it as much as we liked, he was still too good.”
Sandhill Star, a $51 outsider, passed the post in third place while Patch Adams was fourth. Magic Consol, chasing a third consecutive cup, was ninth.