A day after having to settle for second with Phobetor in the Ramornie Handicap, trainer Michael Costa has gone one better with Purrfect Deal to land a memorable Grafton Cup victory.
The triumph held special significance for Costa, who spent 18 months in the NSW Northern Rivers town during his tenure as a Racing NSW steward before he took out his trainers’ licence.
“I’ve dreamt about winning this race for thirteen years so it’s a very emotional day,” Costa told Sky Thoroughbred Central.
“It was a great place to live for a year-and-a-half here and it’s like a home grand final today.”
Enjoying an eight-kilo weight drop on the 62kg she carted to victory in the Grafton Cup Prelude last start, Purrfect Deal trailed the speed set by Spencer and pounced on the leader in the straight to claim Thursday’s 2350m race.
Under vigorous riding from Ben Thompson, she pulled out plenty to defeat the fast-finishing Laure Me In with Parry Sound coming from well back to grab third.
Placed in the Christmas Cup at Randwick during the summer, Purrfect Deal has now won three of her four starts this preparation to stamp herself a stayer of the future.
“She is just so tough. To go from a mile to the 2200 last start, and 11 days after to back up in this quality field and to do that, phenomenal effort,” Costa said.
“We don’t have the expensive yearlings, we just try to place them right and that’s all we can do.”
The two-day carnival proved a happy hunting ground for Thompson, who also won Wednesday’s Grafton Guineas aboard the Les Kelly-trained Tamilaide.
