Wagga trainer Tim Donnelly and apprentice Rebeka Prest opened the Gold Cup carnival by unveiling a very promising two-year-old.
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Pressed For Thyme ($2.90) upstaged her older and more experienced rivals to take out the Terminate Maiden Handicap (1000m) on debut.
The two-year-old filly settled well back in the field before Prest ensured she found clear running in the straight and she sprinted past her rivals down the outside to score by 3/4 lengths.
Canberra trainer Matthew Dale had the second and third placegetters, Velvet Aeroplane ($2.70) and Starskin ($7.50).
Donnelly purchased the filly for $85,000 at the Ready to Run sales in New Zealand.
He is excited by what the future holds for Pressed For Thyme.
"She's a good filly," Donnelly said.
"We are training her for the future, not just today. She was the best horse in the race but if she got beat today it wasn't going to worry me."
Donnelly plans to put the filly straight out with a three-year-old campaign in mind.
"She's going to the paddock," he said.
"I think she will run a mile."
Pressed For Thyme is raced by Wagga's Paul and Judy Galloway, and G and E Saggers.
As for a well-supported winner to open the carnival, Donnelly could not have been happier.
"Beautiful," he said.
