More than 1200 racegoers were on course to see race favourite Captain Envious take out this year’s $50,000 Murtoa Cup (2050m).
The Paul Preusker-trained gelding drifted late in betting, but ended up recording a soft win on the line carrying 60kg to victory.
Winning jockey Will Gordon said it would be a confidence-boosting victory for the son of Savabeel, who will now likely head back to town for the spring.
The Horsham-trained galloper also previously finished third in last November’s Group 3 Queen’s Cup (2600m) at Flemington behind Soulcombe.
Adding another country cup to his resume, Gordon said despite the eventual result, mid-race he thought he’d stuffed up the ride.
“We jumped from barrier two and Paul’s only instructions were stay off the fence, but that’s exactly where we ended up,” he said.
“It panned out for the first 600m how I’d thought it would but then we ended up taking the run up the inside and I thought, ‘oh no I’ve really stuffed this up’.
“Luckily it ended up working out okay, and he’s a nice horse who should go on with it and win a race in town again soon.”
The in-form Preusker stable recorded a double on the eight-race card, also taking out a heat of the Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Series (1600m) with classy galloper, Poison Chalice.
Poison Chalice (NZ) was ridden by Ryan Houston and won the Horsham Doors & Glass Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Series at Murtoa Racecourse on October 07, 2023 in Murtoa, Australia.
