Long-time Canberra trainer Barbara Joseph captured her second Snake Gully Cup on Friday as Mercurial Lad proved too good in a thrilling finish to the $70,000 feature race.
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Durable Wagga gelding Gentleman Max ($9.50) went within a head of a Snake Gully Cup upset as Mercurial Lad ($4.20) got the better of a three-way photo finish.
Bring A Secret ($10.00) was a further short head away in third as Canberra trainer Nick Olive’s hoodoo extended another year.
Joseph enjoyed her second Snake Gully Cup success with first time winners – her son and training partner Paul, jockey Kayla Nisbet and a host of Riverina connections.
After winning the race for the first time 15 years ago with Medicine, Joseph was delighted to capture the Snake Gully Cup for a second time.
“It’s a great feeling mate, better than winning Randwick. It’s just a great race,” Joseph said.
“It’s great, I’ve spent years trying to win it again after 2002. I’ve had a lot of seconds, Just A Blur should have won two years ago but no luck.
“This horse, when it rained, we couldn’t have been happier.”
Gundagai was hit by a number of storms on Friday and the track went from a good three rating before race one, to a heavy eight by Cup time.
It resulted in the late scratchings of Pittsburgh, Va Va Veni and Chief In Command but played into the hands of known mudlarks, Mercurial Lad and Gentleman Max.
“We were very happy with that,” Joseph said.
Jones said the Snake Gully Cup was a race he always wanted to win.
“It’s great. We had this in the back of our mind with this horse for a while now so we’re just over the moon,” Jones said.
“It’s one of those races, growing up as kids, that mum would talk about.”
It was Mercural Lad’s fifth win from 15 starts for a large group of connections, hailing from across the Riverina, including Junee, Gundagai, Wagga and Cootamundra.
It was Nisbet’s first ride in the race and she was thrilled to win the Cup.
“It’s really exciting,” she said.
“I was confident in the run but when we straightened up, he didn’t seem to be going very well so I lost confidence quickly. But his last 200 metres, he really switched on and got to the line well.”
For Trevor Sutherland and the connections of Gentleman max, it was not to be.
“He went good. It was a very even field and it’s a good race,” Sutherland said.
"He’s been competitive in these races all year and you would love a horse like this to win one of these races, it’s worth $70,000, but he took his opportunity and went super.”
