Photo: Racing Photography.
It was a mixed bag for favourite punters at Dubbo on Friday.
In the $40,000 Silver Goblet, punters were left sick to their stomachs, with the long odds-on favourite Hellfire Express getting rolled.
Seeing such a short quote in a two-year-old race was somewhat surprising, with the Annabel Neasham-trained Hellbent gelding starting the $1.26 favourite.
The Sydney galloper jumped with them from gate two, and with Brodie Loy in the saddle, he had every chance when given a soft run on the rail before going to the lead on the Dubbo home straight.
It wasn’t to be for connections because coming home hard and fast was the Clint Lundholm-trained Plenitude, which had admirers at $7.50.
With Grant Buckley in the saddle, the Kermadec gelding was very impressive through to the line, putting half a length on Hellfire Express, while in third and 3.78 lengths off the pace was the Brett Thompson-trained Duren (Shayleigh Ingelse), with the 80/1 shot running a good race and adding some spice to the exotics.
On a big day of racing at Dubbo, there was plenty of action to be had in the Winter Country Classic Benchmark 58 1300m qualifiers.
Lundholm’s good day continued in the fillies and mares qualifier, with Starlink finding enough for apprentice jockey Ronald Simpson.
Starlink ($3.30) won by 0.54 of a length from the Kylie Kennedy-trained Lipstick Lil (William Stanley, $9), while in third and 1.39 lengths back was the Joe Burges-trained Top End Mikki (Kody Nestor, $26).
Simpson weaved his magic in the colts, geldings, and entires qualifier, with the Andrew Molly-trained The Mediator ($11) winning by 0.65 of a length from the Toby Pracey-trained Feirme Prince (Kody Nestor, $3.90), while the Michael Lynch-trained Young Heart (Ken Dunbar, $51) was 1.31 lengths away in third.
On a big day of racing at Dubbo, the well-named Dubbo Wanderer ($3.30) was an impressive winner in the 1000m Open Handicap.
The Michael Mulholland-trained galloper bombed the start, and heading into the turn, favourite punters would have been screwing up their tickets.
Still, the four-year-old was given every chance by apprentice Jake Barrett, with the pair flashing late to win by 0.22 of a length from a very game Dalavin (Jayden Barrie, $4.60) from the Brett Robb yard, while in third and 2.04 lengths back was the Andrew Molloy-trained Just A Flash (Ken Dunbar, $71).
For all results from Dubbo, click here.
