STRATHLACHLAN Andy continued his amazing run in the Carnival Of Cups, claiming the $14,999 Wattle Time Cup in a tough display at Cootamundra on Sunday.
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With seven wins from his last nine starts, the Newcastle visitor justified his $2.10 favourite status to hold off Sokys Bigbullet and win by three metres.
The Cootamundra success is the fourth country feature for the five-year-old after wins at Tamworth, Narrabri and Armidale.
The win more than made the trip worthwhile for father and son combination Geoff and James Harding.
“He went good the horse,” Geoff Harding said.
Starting from the widest barrier draw on the back row, Strathlachlan Andy was the second horse to make a move in the quality field.
After Condagen made a mid-race move to take the lead from Sokys Bigbullet, the Newcastle visitor also went around the field to sit outside Dennis Picker’s charge.
The two raced neck and neck before Condagen faded to finish sixth.
Harding was impressed with how he finished off the race, in his first visit to the Riverina.
“Once he got to the death I thought he would hold on pretty easy, but I did think the leader (Condagen) would run on a bit better than he did, but he didn’t so we were lucky,” he said.
Cootamundra’s feature hasn’t been kind to favourites recently, with the last three favorites going down, including Frith as a $1.30 chance last year, but Strathlachan Andy defied the trend to post the win in a mile rate of 1:59.5.
The pair travelled down on Saturday, with their two horses staying at different properties, before taking home another feature back to Newcastle.
The win moves Strathlachlan Andy further up the Carnival Of Cups leading horse rankings, but Harding is unsure of what will be next.
Harding’s second runner went close to causing a major upset when Strathlachlan Art was chased down late in the three-year-old feature.
After moving around to sit outside leader and favourite Somelovesomewhere, the filly was nabbed right on the line by Stening for Wagga trainer Bernie Kelly.
Sokys Bigbullet extended his run of placings in Riverina features this season, with his second at Cootamundra backing up second placings in West Wyalong and Junee’s cups.
The gelding did win the minor Coolamon Pacers Cup last month.