Albury trainer Mitch Beer continued his strong finish to the season by taking out the $34,000 Leeton Toyota Narrandera Cup (1600m) with Power Me up ($5.50).

Bensley elected to restrain out of a fierce early speed battle to give Power Me Up the run of the race on the leaders' back.

When they capitulated early, Power Me Up was left in front a long way from home but showed plenty of fight to hold off the fast-finishing Necessary ($2.90) to win. Boogie Woogie ($12.00) was a length and three quarters back in third.

"The first two just stopped quickly and left us in front. I thought they're just going to get this horse and he's going to run a terrific second but to his credit, he stuck well," Beer said.

"It's great. These are our pin-up horses. A $20,000 online purchase who has now won five. We bought him as a maiden and in 12 months he's worked through to being a country Cup horse."

Beer said the Narrandera Cup had been on the radar for Power Me Up for some time.

"He's a bit of a difficult horse to train because you've got to have him off his head, 1000 metre attitude but then you've got to keep him fit enough to run a hard mile on heavy tracks," he said.

"After he won at Wagga, this was his target race, that's why I took him up and gave him that run in town. I came home, gave him a week off and trialled him on Monday and then just swam him and treadmilled him all week.

"It's a bit of weird path to get there but it worked out well."

Beer praised the efforts of the Narrandera Race Club committee for the work they did on the track overnight to ensure the meeting went ahead.

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Meantime earlier in the day, Wagga trainer Russell Steiner enjoyed a special win.

Steiner brought up his first winner since he returned to the training ranks late in 2019 when Land Of The Brave ($5.50) claimed a photo finish to win the Elders Coleambally & Narrandera Maiden Plate (1400m).

It was his first winner in close to 20 years, having recovered from a life-threatening trackwork fall in 2015.

It was Land Of The Brave's first start for Steiner, after he purchased the three-year-old from the Troy and Leon Corstens stable.

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