By CRAIG DUMESNY
It is a harness racing meeting that never fails to deliver, and Monday afternoon’s Canola Cup and the iconic Eugowra Paceway were basked in sunshine as a big crowd watched on to witness yet another superb drive from Bathurst’s Amanda Turnbull aboard the Nathan Jack trained Chart Topper to capture the $30,000 feature.
It was Turnbull’s third victory in the Cup, her previous winners being Oh I Am The One in 2015 and Racing Time in 2022.
Starting a short-priced favourite, Chart Topper was afforded a beautiful run through the pack from his second line draw but after the field had just settled into their positions, Amanda was off around them to take up the position outside of the leader Artimus Mission.
From there, she simply controlled the race and when it was time to apply the acid test rounding the home turn, she ranged up and took a slender lead which her charge was able to retain all the way down the Eugowra home straight.
Latest Stories
In a blanket finish, Chart Topper stuck his neck out to hold off a late challenge from My Ultimate Flynn while Artimus Mission was brave in defeat to hold onto third placing.
Another highlight on a fantastic afternoon of pacing was the performance by the aptly named Watchmedazzle in the TAB.COM.AU Don Tildsley Memorial.
Driven by rising star reinsman Jett Turnbull, the six-year-old gelding scorched around the 800 metre circuit, running the first half of the last mile in 57.5 seconds which was backed up by an even faster 56.8 seconds on the way home.
Watchmedazzle’s mile rate of 1.54.9 was just one tenth of a second outside Conviction’s track record set in 2019.
Crookwell visitor Scott Hewitt made his trip to Eugowra worthwhile when his mare Fay Irene made amends for her unlucky defeat a week earlier by taking out the Gundermain Feedlot Canola Cup Consolation.
Wendy Turnbull and her daughter Emma combined with Huta to take out the other feature of the afternoon the Agnvet Services – John Greenhalgh Memorial.
Other winners during the afternoon included Tulhurst Pebbles for Nathan Hurst, Be Good Miki (Jackson Painting), Carbaganoosh (Erika Dwyer) and Hello I Tea (Jye Coney).
