IT may have been the first win for the powerful racing stable of Godolphin when Cross Counter won the $7 million Melbourne Cup last week, however, for Bathurst conditioner Paul Theobold his “cup” was among his four winners from five races on the Entertainment Grounds’ Gosford Picnic races on the same day.
A large crowd turned out to the Gosford Race Club’s annual Melbourne Cup picnic races with punters cashing in on the Bathurst prepared horses giving Paul his first quadruple of wins as a trainer.
“I’ve had (trained) three winners in the past but this is my first four (winners) of a program,” said Paul following his fourth winner in the last race.
His four winners also earned the conditioner a $1250 training bonus awarded to him via a points score system. His opening winner was Power Of Destiny gelding Born To Power in the Pinnacle Class B Handicap, and who was ridden by Mudgee based hoop Alan Barton.
This trainer/jockey combination continued on their winning ways following with eight-year-old Rise Me Up (by Flying Nicko), Husson four-year-old Red Marauder, and grey Murtajill galloper Attilius, the latter taking the afternoon highlight Star 104.5 Gosford Picnic Cup.
Witnessing trackside the four winners was Paul’s great mate and a part-owner of Rise Me Up, Sydney form-work concreter George Zorbas, who was champion Australian light heavy-weight wrestler in the late 1960s and 70s.
It was also the first time that the most winningest jockey of the program (Alan Barton) had won four races on the one program.
“I may have ridden four winners when I was (rode) overseas, but this would be the first time in Australia,” said Alan after his fourth winner.
The jockey practices his riding expertise as a track rider at the Mudgee district celebrated property Gooree Park, before Alan “changes hats” to look after and put the finishing touches on its state-of-the-art training track.
The other winner of Gosford’s picnic program went to Muswellbrook trainer Luke Thomas, with Manton daughter Chrissy Be, who took her maiden race, when ridden by Scone based Ashley Boyd.
Melbourne Cup to England
CROSS Counter became the first English based trained horse to win the iconic Melbourne Cup, which also gave Australian hoop Kerrin McEvoy his third win in the world-renowned 3200 metres race.
A trifecta for the first three finishing horses who were all foaled in Great Britain, Cross Counter was only a three-year-old from the year of his northern hemisphere birth in 2015. He defeated last year’s Cup ninth placegetter Marmelo, with A Prince Of Arran third, with all three being represented with former Australasian shuttle sires in their pedigrees. While this phenomenon is becoming more commonly seen with about 40 to 50 shuttle stallions annually travelling for stud use to Australian and New Zealand, Cross Counter indeed has four of these such horses in his own pedigree.
An exceptional staying winner of five of his eight starts, Cross Counter is by Teofilo, a Darley stallion who has stood intermittently in Australia for six seasons from 2009, while Coolmore Stud was responsible for shuttling Teofilo’s northern hemisphere champion sire Galileo for five seasons from 2002.
I may have ridden four winners when I was (rode) overseas, but this would be the first time in Australia
- Alan Barton
Teofilo was produced from a mare by Coolmore’s most famous Danehill, whose legacy is in full-force in Australasia and now renowned across the globe.
The fourth shuttler is found in Cross Counter’s female side, Kenmare, a French bred grey stallion who shuttled to Arrowfield Stud for 10 consecutive seasons. Second placed, Marmelo is by Danehill sire Duke Of Marmalade (who was another Coolmore Stud shuttler), while A Prince Of Arran was produced from a mare by GB bred Storming Home, who shuttled to New Zealand in the late 2000s.
