COOL Prince made a mockery of being rated the fifth favourite, as the gelding won the major Manilla Cup race at the Riverside Racecourse on Saturday.
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Cool Prince won by a margin of 0.8 in the Royal Hotel-sponsored Iris Rennie Memorial.
As for whether there was any strategy to the win, trainer Sue Grills said: “I just left it up to the jockey: Greg Ryan.”
Originally from Somerton, Grills said every win was enjoyable while it was “great to win a Manilla Cup” and “great to win a race in honour of Iris Rennie”.
As it turned out, Ryan was the most successful jockey while Dean McHardie was the most successful trainer at the Manilla Cup race meet.
Ryan rode two first placegetters while McHardie trained two other first placegetters, following notable changes to the timetable.
Due to numerous scratchings and mixed outcomes with nominations, the 2700m race was abandoned while the revamped schedule involved seven races rather than six.
In its 150th year, the Gunnedah Jockey Club took the chance to honour a number of club stalwarts, with races named in recognition of Greg ‘Slim’ Ellis, Clyde Eather and Iris Rennie.
Ridden by Ryan and trained by Craig Clegg, Gold Drama won the opening race after having a starting price (SP) of $12 while $3 favourite Make Some Moolah came fourth.
The Greg Bennett-trained and Ryan-ridden Talented Miss came third after being a $1.80 favourite to win race two, which was won by the third favourite: Hannah To Smile, trained by Brett Thompson and ridden by Leanne G Henry.
Following two 1000m races, the third and fourth races were 1600m before three 1200m races took place.
Below The Belt won the third race while the favourite, No Angel Here, came sixth in a field of eight.
The McHardie-trained Mr Haar, ridden by Vad Bolozhinskyi, won race four after being the second favourite with $4.60 while favourite Beach Head came fifth.
Sambora was fourth favourite in race five but the gelding won by a margin of 0.4 while favourite As A Hawk came seventh.
Following the main race, Roulette Belle won the final race with McHardie the trainer.
Roulette Belle had a SP of $14 while seven of the 12 horses had a SP below $10.
McHardie said Nyssa Burrells rode in the final race following a late scratching, after Burrells had never ridden Roulette Belle before.
“She rode her an absolute treat,” McHardie said.
“There was a small gap halfway up the straight, and she pushed her way through it.”
Gunnedah Jockey Club secretary-manager Mark Storey said he was happy with the day’s proceedings.
“It’s always a good day. The Manilla people are great supporters of racing and the Gunnedah Jockey Club.”