Winning a race at his local Cup meeting was special and the icing on the cake was a career first winning double, Molasses and Da Grinch, for trainer Dennis Bush at Forbes on Monday.
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Due to injury problems the five-year-old Molasses has only started six times but has now recorded three wins, the last two in succession, at Dubbo and Forbes.
Owned by Danny Kotel from Grenfell, Molasses was resuming from a spell at Dubbo and produced a tremendous finishing run from the back of the field while at Forbes it was another impressive performance in the Simmo Memorial Class 2 Handicap (1100m) with Cowra jockey Mathew Cahill again in the saddle.
From the outside barrier, Molasses ($2.50 favourite) travelled wide but kept coming in the straight to overhaul Dublin Dan (Nyssa Burrells, $31) and Rising King (Rachael Murray, $8).
Da Grinch, second leg of the Dennis Bush double, was ridden by Eleanor Webster-Hawes in the Forbes Services Memorial Club Benchmark 65 Handicap, 1200 metres.
Taken to the early lead, Da Grinch ($18 safely held out Willy White Socks (Kody Nestor $9) and Majaska (Chris Williams, $6) in the run home.
Gentleman Max, winner of the $30,000 Bankstown Spots Club Forbes Cup (1600 metres), thrives on racing and has earned recognition as an iron horse.
In the first season, as a three-year-old, Gentleman Max started an incredible 28 times and last season had another 18 starts.
Trained at Wagga Wagga by Trevor Sutherland, Gentleman Max (Allan Chau, $5.50) took the lead from Our Sarastro at the top of the straight and fought on gamely to score by a neck from the 2016 Forbes Cup winner Zarlu (Mathew Cahill, $10) which came from last with a big finish.
A length away third was Something Borrowed (Kody Nestor, $7) with the Parkes Cup winner Leucura humping the 62 kg top weight into fourth place.
Trevor Sutherland and Allan Chau also combined to win the City Of Sydney RSL Benchmark 59 Handicap (1400 metres) with Hangin' With Willy ($11).
Champion jockey Greg Ryan kept his army of fans happy with a winning double, Miss Whistler ($31) from the Brett Thompson stable at Gulgong and Delle Donne ($2.60), trained by Luke Pepper at Canberra.
Despite cold weather and the threat of rain, the Forbes Cup meeting attracted a very good crowd.
