A thief in the night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That's what Reward Seeker looked like in the last 200 metres of Friday's $67,500 Buckley's Carpet Court Orange Gold Cup Showcase (2100m), the five-year-old gelding absolutely flying past its adversaries to reign supreme in the richest race of the day.
The odds-makers gave Michael Mulholland's horse a fair chance at Towac Park as it closed at $7 but it's unlikely anyone expected a finish like that with Jake Pracey-Holmes, in the saddle, able to pinch every inch of effort out of the winning horse on its way to three first-placed finishes on the trot.
Running second was Matthew Dale's long shot, Shanghai Patrol ($19), followed by another outsider in Celtic Love ($13).
But, it was the favourite Zoffany's Lad ($3.70) who looked the good for the vast majority of the race, zooming from the outside gate early on to snatch a commanding lead from the rest of the field.
Trainer, Joseph Ible would have been licking his chops when his five-year-old gelding came around the bend with a two-length lead but all the work Brodie Loy had the horse do in the opening exchanges might have been too much to overcome at the business end as it finished fourth.
Peter Cornish's Athena's Voice ran a respectable race after the Orange trainer admitted his mare was probably a bit under the odds in the lead-up to the cup run and it closed as high as $41 after eventually passing the post fifth to collect a cool $2,700 pay day on Cornish's home turf.
Athena's Voice wasn't the only hometown hero that performed well as Happy Partner ($126) was faced with the tough ask of backing up its March 22 win in the Orange Cup prelude.
Much like Cornish, part-owner Alex Prout didn't give it much of a chance during the week against a top-class field but it was far from embarrassed as Adrian Layt rode the nine-year-old gelding to a 9th placed finish in a field of 14 horses.
After the cup, Reward Seeker's trainer, Michael Mulholland said there's a chance his champion gelding could be off to Sydney next week for another run-around but if not, it'll be off to the paddock for a spell.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE NEWS AND SPORT?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...