With an appetite for Country Cups, the aptly-named Voracious added another trophy to his collection at Forbes on Sunday.
Trained by Mack Griffith at Mudgee and ridden by Jean Van Overmeire, the six-year-old Maurice gelding got home to score a thrilling win in the $50,000 Forbes Cup (1600m), while booking his spot in the $3 million Big Dance Country Cup final at Royal Randwick on the first Tuesday in November.
Ridden quietly, Overmeire never panicked on the $7.50 third favourite and timed his run to perfection.
The pair got home to win by 0.02 of a length from the Edward Cummings-trained Flying From Above (Heavelon Van Der Hoven, $8), while 1.23 lengths back was the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained Zouna (Donovan Dillon, $4.20).
Voracious has been a good earner for Luke Berger and connections after being purchased for $40,000 from the Tony Gollan yard in December last year.
He initially arrived in Todd Payne’s yard with four wins under his belt and had one run, immediately winning for Payne and connections in the $45,000 Inverell Cup (1400m) on New Year’s Day.
Then transferred to Griffith’s stable at Mudgee, he won the Quirindi Cup (1600m) at Tamworth on February 23.
The Forbes Cup was the third trophy for connections since New Year’s Day and takes Voracious’ career earnings to $219,150, having won just over $73,000 for his new owners.
Forbes double for Griffith and Overmeire
For Griffith and Overmeire, it was their second win on the Forbes program on Sunday after Colly Blue ($1.75) justified the short quote, railing through for an impressive victory in the $40,000 Country Boosted Maiden Plate (1100m).
It was a big day’s racing at Forbes, which entertained a good-sized crowd.
The Ben Hall Bullet (1200m) was won by Goulburn visitor and leading country trainer Danny Williams as Atmospheric Rock (Dale Cole, $3.60) flew home for an eye-catching 1.76-length win in the $30,000 feature sprint.
