The Mudgee Cup may be headed to Warwick Farm but several local trainers didn’t leave the day empty-handed taking out races four, five and six on the program.
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The Mack Griffith trained Pera Pera won the Montrose Mudgee Cup Day Showcase Sprint (1200m), carrying top weight he got out from the early leaders and beat them on the straight.
“It’s great for local company Gooree to get a win on Mudgee Cup Day – it was a good local win,” Griffith said.
“He hasn’t raced for a while and first up he normally goes quite well normally and from barrier one it was a big plus.”
Cameron Crockett’s Mar Nero won her second win in two starts for the local trainer in the Class 1 Handicap (1400m), swooping around the outside of the pack at the turn and storming home on the straight.
“She was probably the only winner on the day to come from so far back which makes it even better," Crockett said.
“Before the race I said to [jockey] Rachael [Murray] we’re probably at a disadvantage here because we knew we would be near last and it’s going to be hard to make up ground.
“She said ‘we can only ride her the way she likes to be ridden’, so we did that and the rest is history – she put them away.”
Gayna Williams’ Griffin’s Gaze raced up with the lead and held everyone at bay on the home straight to win the Maiden Handicap (1200m).
“He had a good start last time in Narromine [2nd] and had a bit of bad luck, but if he’d have won he wouldn’t be here today, so these things happen for a reason,” Williams said.