New Year’s Day will forever live in Todd Payne’s memory after he celebrated his 100th career victory while landing his first home-town cup win at Inverell.
Racing Voracious ($3.70), ridden by Luke Rolls, Payne watched on as the 5YO Maurice gelding made every post a winner after driving forward from gate six.
Despite leading them up, Voracious was a class above his rivals. The six-time winner, who boasted strong Brisbane form leading into his New Year’s Day assignment, was just too strong to the line when triumphing in the $45,000 Inverell Cup (1400m).
“It’s fantastic. It’s one race I’ve always wanted to win – the hometown cup,” Payne said.
“We’ve only had the horse a couple of weeks; it was a bit of a hit and run mission – buy one to try and win the cup.”
Voracious did arrive via the Tony Gollan, and Payne was quick to praise the leading Queensland conditioner for sending the horse to him in great order.
“The boys did a great job syndicating him. They found him online and pinpointed him as the right horse for the Inverell Cup,” Payne said.
“He got the job done; it was a tough win. I only had to keep him ticking over, Tony Gollan had him, and he turned up in fantastic order as you’d expect, it was great.”
On a huge day for Inverell Jockey Club, a big crowd was on course for the eight-race showcase program.
The time-honoured Inverell Shorts (1050m) was won by the Brett and Georgie Cavanough-trained Hellcibell (Jett Newman, $3.20).
Stealing the spotlight was apprentice jockey Leeshelle Small, who rode four winners on the program, including victory on the Craig Clegg-trained It’s A Written ($3.70) in the $50,000 Brian Baldwin Super Maiden Handicap (1400m).
