JIMMY The Bear flew home to claim the 100th Mildura Cup at Sandilong Park on Friday, capping a massive day for jockey Brad Rawiller.
The veteran reinsman, who earlier this season earned his 3000th career victory, steered the five-year-old gelding past the finishing post in the 1400-metre $100,000 event, giving trainer Patrick Payne three of the past six Mildura Cups.
Jimmy The Bear ran perfectly against the six-horse field to finish in front of pre-race favourite He’s Our Bonneval from the training partnership of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, and My Khalifa trained by Gordon Richards and Damien Moyle.
Rawiller earned a cup-day quartet after taking the Michelle Payne-trained duo of Redvance and Princeofnottingham to victory in races one and six respectively, also piloting home the Tony Noonan-trained Joon Ho in race three.
The result moves Jimmy The Bear’s record to eight wins and seven placing from 27 starts.
“Just special … he’s literally loved by everyone at the stable,” Rawiller said of the winning horse.
“Back in my three-month hiatus I was riding him a lot of work, and Patrick’s horses can pull and give you a hard time out at the farm, and this bloke is the one you looked forward to every morning.
“To get the chance on him in the Mildura Cup was pretty awesome, I was very confident and he was too good for them.
“He was very well placed from Patrick, he’s put him back to 1400 after getting out 1800 … he had him spot on today. Easy riding for top trainer like Patrick.”
Following time away from the sport, Rawiller, 45, said he rediscovered his love for racing working for the Payne stables.
“Truth be known, it was even just being with staff who respect you for being there to do track work,” he said.
“You’re happy when you’re happy, and that’s when I started to realise how much I loved riding a horse again.
“It’ nice to nail it today, ride four winners and win the cup.
“I don’t think many would have won as many country cups as me all over Victoria and I prided myself on that, and to win the 100th running of the Mildura Cup is special.”
It was an eventful day for the cup centurion at Mildura’s Sandilong Park, after a 40-minute delay between races two and three due to safety concerns on the track.
Geeijo, ridden by Stacey Metcalfe, appeared to slip behind in the second race of the day, prompting aeration of the surface roughly between the 300-metre and 700-metre mark to satisfy riders before resuming.
Chief steward Damien Carr said per Racing Victoria that the track needed to be given the all clear by the majority of riders in the following two races.
“I think there were 14 who went out and had a look at it there,” Carr said during the delay.
“We’ve had the track manager run the aerator over that section of track just to try and loosen it up a bit, the jockeys inspected it prior to the remedial work and now subsequent and they’re happy to go around for race three.”
The 2000-metre $60,000 AJ & JJ Dunne Memorial Handicap, the final race of the day, was taken by outsider Eureka’s Victory, trained by Nicole Irwin and ridden Callan Murray.
The Mildura Cup Carnival continues on Saturday with the family fun day at Sandilong Park.
