Ridden by Blake Shinn, Dark Eyes came home strongly in the 1600m JCF Contracting Goulburn Cup Open Handicap a half-neck ahead of God’s In Him, ridden by Brenton Avdulla, with Valentino Rossa ridden by Kathy O’Hara a head further back in third. The second Waterhouse horse in the Goulburn Cup, Fabrizio, ridden by Rachel King, was a close fifth.

Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott could not be at the meeting as Bott was getting married in the Southern Highlands, but stable representative senior foreman Chris Armstrong contacted his bosses to let them know the good news and add to their celebrations. The triple win for the Waterhouse stable started with Race 1 and three-year-old Chain of Fools bolting clear of the field, with Rachel King at the reins, to win by two and a quarter lengths from Thinking Ahead, ridden by Blaike McDougall.

The second win for the Waterhouse / Bott stable was also jockey Rachel King’s second winning ride as she brought Aurora Rose home in Race 3, the Goulburn Post Benchmark 65 Showcase Handicap. Two and a half lengths behind was Irenic, ridden by Brendan Ward in second place, followed by Dripping Carats. Local runner Fireman Sam I Am, trained by Tash Burleigh and ridden by Blake Shinn, finished fourth.

Foreman Armstrong said, after Race 4, he would be encouraging Waterhouse and Bott to bring more horses to Goulburn as it was only a three-hour journey and the track appeared to be really well prepared. He also hinted he would be putting the word in to suggest they also take the opportunity to come and see the track for themselves some time in the future.

The final race was the Spendthrift / Guy Walter handicap, won by Fourette with Brenton Avdulla in the saddle. Avdulla commented that many of the jockeys present had special memories of Walter.

Walter’s widow, Wendy, was at the presentation. Club president Ken Ikin spoke about the Walters’ GDRC association.