The major portion of the $100,000 prizemoney for the Dubbo City Toyota-Dubbo Gold Cup (1600 metres) is staying in the central west with the winner Steamin' being trained at Wellington by Michael Mulholland and owned by Malcolm Brown and the winning trainer and his father.
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One of four winners on the day for champion jockey Greg Ryan, Steamin' ($6.50) was patiently ridden and from the back of the field saved considerable ground with a rails run and sprinted to a one and a half lengths win from the Wayne Collison, Narromine trained Magic Over The Bay (Robbie Dolan, $19) and Chivadahlii (Mathew Cahill, $9.50) from the Shane Edmonds stable at Inverell.
After winning the Bankstown Sports Club Forbes Cup, Steamin' had an unplaced run in Sydney and then finished a handy fifth in the Mudgee Mug prior to the Dubbo Cup.
Greg Ryan was all class when also winning on Fast Talking ($1.75 favourite) for trainer Kody Nestor, for trainer Rod Northam on Harbouring ($5) and on the Sue Grills trained Under The Thumb ( $11 ).
The third staging of the $50,000 Picnic Championship (1400 metres) at Dubbo saw a very popular result when Gadfly won for Condobolin trainer Mark Ward.
A great supporter of even the most remote meetings in New South Wales, Mark Ward trains the classy Gadfly for a loyal group of owners, mainly from Condobolin and Trundle.
Brent Evans who as an apprentice won Group races in Melbourne and Brisbane is now riding on the Picnic circuit and it was a brilliant exhibition on Gadfly as the six year old gelding had won eight races over shorter distances but was winless after nine starts at 1400 metres.
Eased back to near last in the early stages, Gadfly ($4) finished strongly along the inside rail to beat the Peter Sinclair, Moree trained Free Billy (Ridge Wilson, $3.50 fav.) and Cooee March (Ashley Boyd, $4.60) trained at Griffith by Russell Hogan.
The final field of 12, including Getting Ready trained in Forbes by Wendy Baker, came from the leading point scorers over the circuit and the first meeting of the new Picnic season is at Come By Chance on Saturday, September 28.
The owners of the aptly named Sons Of Bourke were in full cry when the six year old gelding commenced a strong run from midfield in the $50,000 Country Magic Class 2 Showcase Plate over 1100 metres at Dubbo.Responding to the powerful riding of Andrew Banks and the cheering of Frank Hollman, Glen Knight, Mark Spencer and Kurt Dickson, all from Bourke, the Clint Lundholm, Dubbo trained Sons Of Bourke ($26) wore down Screen Shot (Adam Hyeronimus, $2.50 favourite) to win by a head with Philadora (Mikayla Weir $20) in third place.
Enngonia to race on Saturday followed by Come By Chance Picnics and Grenfell on Saturday, September 27 and the Bathurst Cup on Sunday, September 28.