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A BIG crowd was trackside to see the biggest race day for the Tuncurry Forster Jockey Club - the Tuncurry Gold Cup.
The feature event was the penultimate race on the six race program and the fairer sex in the jockey ranks dominated the 2100m contest, led by Alex Stokes, who steered home Lucky Ima Cugat to a gritty win over Butane, ridden by Melinda Graham.
Those two came clear early on in the straight and settled down to fight it out, but the class edge Lucky Ima Cugat had came to the fore when it mattered most. Pinot Gris stuck on okay for third just ahead of Perfectly Alligned.
The afternoon kicked off on the right note for the females when Alison Threadwell booted home Newcastle gelding Taxedtothehilt, narrowly getting home ahead of leader She's A Mod, who has now had two runs on the Tuncurry track for two seconds. That pair kicked right away from the rest, with third placegetter Trilogy three lengths away from the winner.
The female domination continued in the second event when young Port Macquarie apprentice Melinda Graham steered home Honest Opinion, trained by her mum Jenny.
Graham showed good initiative, kicking up on the rail to keep out favourite Nerio, beating that horse off early on in the straight, then holding off a final challenge from Mosgiel Ruby, who probably cost herself victory by laying in badly over the concluding stages. Nerio whacked away for third.
Saintly Pro justified her short quote in betting with an absolute demolition of her rivals in the third event on the card, settling outside the leader Comical all the before putting that horse away on the turn and sprinted clear late under hands and heels from Ben Looker, scoring a much deserved maiden win. Comical stuck on well for second, though beaten nearly five lengths.
Big Sonny had the soft run off the speed and grinded home for third in what was a pretty ordinary race outside the winner.
Up until this point, local trainer Terry Evans had no runners for the meeting, but come the Bellevue Hotel Golden Mile (1600m), he came to the fore in a big way courtesy of impressive winner Let Them Have It, a former Victorian who was having his first run for Evans, and the gelding seems to be enjoying life on the coast, with the eight year old winning here by a widening four lengths.
The race was run very slowly in the early stages, which prompted Allan Chau to make a midrace move on Ality, which went to the front halfway home, but that didn't matter to Andrew Adkins on Let Them Have It, which looked to travel sweetly near the speed, and eventually put Ality away on the turn and careered for a most impressive debut for Evans.
Most punters thought the last race was done and dusted when Galaxy Dane narrowly defeated the Terry Evans trained Not Doubtful, but Adkins, who rode Not Doubtful, had other ideas, firing in a protest for alleged interference over the concluding stages, and the stewards didn't take long to agree with the apprentice, giving Not Doubtful the race and demoting Galaxy Dane to second place.
Not Doubtful hadn't won first up previously during her career, but she was well backed in the betting and the punters were spot on, thanks to a little help from the stewards room