DAPPERIZED pulverised his opposition to win Saturday’s $10,000 Royal Hotel Iris Rennie Memorial Manilla Cup (1600m) at Gunnedah.
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The Gayna Williams-trained seven-year-old gelding, a son of Irish stallion Authorized, powered his way to a half length win from Armidale gelding Melted Moments with Punton Bernardini, who had led, a length away third.
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Greg Ryan rode a perfectly judged race to keep his unbeaten record on the Mudgee-trained gelding.
“He was too good,” Ryan said.
“Felt really good under me.”
Dapperized had won at Mudgee two starts previous before finishing 11th in the Dubbo Cup to Disturbance.
“Greg’s only had two rides on him and won both,” Williams said.
“We had hoped he would run well here. It was a good win.”
She prepares Dapperized for long-time owners Nerida and Roger Atkinson.
“They had Sniper’s Bullet,” she said.
“They have been good supporters of our stable for a long while.”
Dapperized is a good horse to work with too, Williams added.
“He’s only a lightly framed horse and we work him like a filly,’ she said.
She has no immediate plans for Dapperized.
Irish Shotgun then blasted his way to his first win in the following race to give the Mudgee trainer a winning double for the day.
With Ryan on board, the gelding snared victory in the TAB Have a Quaddie @ Gunnedah Maiden Plate (1600m) in the last few strides.
“He’s still very, very green,” Williams said.
“I thought he’d thrown it away.”
The four-year-old gelding had box-seated for much of the journey but looked gone at the top of the straight when the Craig Martin-trained Louisiana Man hit the front.
However no sooner than Louisiana Man had taken over he drifted to the middle of the track with young apprentice Reece Jones.
After travelling three and four wide all the way Louisiana man did well to hang on for third, finishing a length astern of runner-up Arlo’s Way.
Irish Shotgun is “full of issues”, Williams said.
“He’s a real fizzy type, mentally fragile,” she said of a gelding who has plenty of growing, mentally, to do.
“He’s a baby.”
While she doesn’t have a race in store for him she will find “something a bit further for him.”
