Master tactician Greg Ryan was at his best when guiding the Chris Heywood,Wagga Wagga trained Leucura to victory on Sunday in the $30,000 Parkes Services Club Parkes Cup.
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Winner of 6 races, Leucura had been placed over the 1600 metres of the Parkes Cup but was yet to win over that distance and Ryan chose to settle his mount on the rails and back in the field.
Leucura ($3.60) steadily made ground on the inside and when switched around the leaders heels in the straight reeled in Our Sarastro (Chris Williams, $9) to score by a length with Layo Layo (Mathew Cahill, $17) a strong finishing third.
“He rode him a treat,” Wagga’s Heywood said of Ryan to Sky Thoroughbred Central after the win.
“We saw this race and it looked like a nice race for him.
“We’ve been trying to find the right races for him and build him up to it. He’s the only one in the family who can run over a trip, everyone else is a sprinter so he’s done a good job.”
The $3.40 favourite, Top Ravine, was running second approaching the home turn but was suddenly eased out of the race with jockey Brodie Loy apparently concerned the horse may have gone amiss.
But there were no worries in the Heywood camp after Leucura made it seven wins from 37 career starts.
The trainer hinted he might look for Leucura to race in Cup events at Forbes and Narromine in the future.
For the second year in succession Heza Thief has won the feature sprint on Cup Day, the $25,000 Parkes Services Club Satellite Handicap (1200 metres), for Cowra trainer Kenneth Parsons.
Away quickly from an outside barrier, Heza Thief ($4.40) set the pace and under powerful riding from Andrew Banks lasted to win by a half head from Dark Mojo (Yuma Saiki, $21) with Richard The First (Chris Williams, $9) running on well for third.
Heza Thief has the impressive record of 7 wins and 5 placings from 15 starts.
Another Cowra galloper to win, but at big odds, was the Andrew Molloy trained Northern Act, in the Happy 40th Birthday Bugman Benchmark 55 Handicap (1000 metres).
Resuming from a spell, Northern Act (Ken Dunbar, $31) came from further back than midfield with a strong finish to account for All Written (Richard Bensley, $4.60) and Venus Amoris (Kaylee Kirkwood, $12).
Following a good run at debut when fourth at Mudgee, the Dean Mirfin, Bathurst rained Prince Planet (Mathew Cahill, $3.60 favourite) led all the way when a convincing winner of the Tony's Windscreens Maiden Plate (1400 metres).
Taking on TAB company after a run of good form at the Picnics, Zaphod (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $15) from the Kylie Kennedy stable at Narromine led throughout in the Parkes Telescope Tyres & Batteries Class 2 Handicap (1600 metres).
Other winners at Parkes were the Garry Lunn, Dubbo trained Strathaird (Rachael Murray, $2.50 fav), Homebird (Rachael Murray, $1.30 fav) trained at Canberra by Matthew Dale and Pencita (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $9) from the Brett Thompson stable at Gulgong.