It was somewhat bittersweet as Mr Moppett took out the inaugural The Tuckerbox (1000m) at Gundagai Adelong Racing Club on Friday.
The Jerilderie galloper won the same race, formerly known as the Snake Gully Flying Handicap (1000m), back in 2022, with Jeff Penza winning for the late Phillip Sweeney, who passed away in April.
Now, under the care of Ross Purcell and his foreman Josh Curtis, connections travelled to Gundagai wanting to make history in honour of their mentor.
With Simon Miller in the saddle, the six-year-old made it career win number seven at start 31 as he finished just in the nick of time to claim victory in the $50,000 feature.
It was no mean feat, with Mr Moppett carrying 57.5kg when first-up from a 32-week spell, and he was slow to begin from five.
Miller didn’t panic, and the pair made up ground before peeling wide and finishing over the top of the Tim Donnelly-trained Lipstick Swing (Danny Beasley, $3.80) to win by a nostril, while a nose away in third was the Gratz Vella-trained Major Time (Damon Budler, $7.50).
Curtis, who was on hand for the presentation of the inaugural The Tuckerbox, said it was an excellent way to honour Sweeney, who would have been proud of the victory.
“It’s awesome,” Curtis said.
“We knew it was going to be tough after we lost Phillip, but we knew if we stuck with it and just did what we could do with the horses we had, we could keep getting some winners.
“It’s been an honour to go around and win a few races with horses Phillip trained, and he helped break that horse in, and it is my uncle’s (Morris Gibson) horse too, and we’ve always had high hopes that he would win some good races.
“For everyone involved, it’s just so good to see him win, and hopefully, he can win a couple more in town.
Mr Moppett created a unique piece of history, winning the last edition of the Snake Gully Flying Handicap and the first The Tuckerbox and Curtis was pleased to celebrate the moment in front of a 5000-stong crowd.
“For a Riverina stable, it’s awesome to win it; we’ve gone back-to-back in this race, and it’s a good feeling,” Curtis said.
“It’s good for the club, because, after COVID and all that, I haven’t seen a crowd this big for a couple of years, and to see the support for this meeting is just awesome.”
In other big results on the day, the Ben Brisbourne-trained and Nick Heywood-ridden Suparazi took out the time-honoured Snake Gully Cup and Danny Williams unearthed a future superstar in Kreon, which won by four lengths on debut in the $50,000 Super Maiden Handicap (1180m).
Click here for all results.
