Canberra warhorse Voice Commander has had to call on all his resources to claim an emotional victory for trainer Nick Olive in the Wagga Wagga Gold Cup.
Olive described the win as the biggest thrill of his career after the six-year-old fought back from what seemed certain defeat to claim Friday’s Listed Gold Cup (2000m) by a nose from World Wide.
“This is the biggest thrill of my career,” Olive said.
“He’s been the number one horse in the stable for a long time now.
“He tries more than any horse I’ve had. He makes me proud, it’s like another child in the family.”
As expected Kathy O’Hara took Voice Commander to the front as she did when she rode him to victory in the Frank Underwood Cup at Rosehill in January.
He led the field into the straight but when O’Hara steered him to the middle of the track looking for better ground, Voice Commander got the wobbles and World Wide came up on his inside.
But Voice Commander fought back to get the decision in the photo finish.
“I anticipated to lead and roll along,” O’Hara said.
“I wanted to take the spring out of any of the others with a turn of foot.
“I wanted to get off the inside. It was a bit chopped up but when he got to the middle of the track he got a bit lost and wobbled around a bit.
“He tried so hard he left it all on the track today.
“If he got beat you couldn’t say it was because he didn’t try hard enough.”
Olive said he was unsure of future plans for Voice Commander beyond giving him a rest.
“He can hardly stand up,” he said.
“He’s bottomed out, he couldn’t have gone another stride.”
Earlier champion jockey Robert Thompson made the most of his first and only ride at the track when he brought Southern Shimmer from last to nab Alma’s Fury on the line to take out the Wagga Wagga Guineas (1600m).
The Hunter Valley based Thompson has ridden more winners than any other Australian jockey but surprisingly had never been to the Riverina track until Friday.
He made the effort for his long time friend, Taree trainer Ross Stitt, who has produced many good horses with Southern Shimmer to tackle the Grafton Guineas next.
“He was coming very quickly the last 50 metres and I thought he got there,” Thompson said.
“He loves to get to the outside with plenty of galloping room, he’s a big striding horse.”
AAP TURF
