GAWLER owner-trainer Brett Campbell followed September’s Pooncaire Cup victory with the Wentworth Cup as eight-year-old gelding Our Destrier took the honours at the Wentworth Showgrounds on Tuesday.
Sharing joint favouritism with Wild Imagination, from the 2019 Cup-winning combination of Murray Bridge trainer David Page and jockey Murray Henderson, Our Destrier and jockey Wesley Cave made it home almost two lengths in front after 1840 metres.
The winning connections shared in almost $10,000 from the overall $17,000 race.
The victory marks Campbell’s first Wentworth Cup on his first attempt, following in the footsteps of his father Ron, who is a multiple Cup-winning trainer.
Watch Point from Joe Kelly’s Swan Hill stables and Borlotti of Cobar trainer Allan Prisk finished third and fourth, respectively.
Flight Deck from local trainer Cindy Brander was a late scratching, and instead was entered in the final race, the Ormond McLeod Memorial Handicap over 1380 metres.
Campbell said prior to the event that Our Destrier was leased particularly to win at Pooncarie, but Wentworth was targeted after that victory.
From Barbados, jockey Cave was chasing his first winner in Australia, however he didn’t have to wait until the cup race.
The Campbell-Cave connection had their first win of the day in race 2, on the Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1000 metres.
Despite carrying the equal-most weight, Royal Tyke was a clear winner, while separating second and third was much tougher.
Apprentice jockeys Sophie Mitchell and Bailey Kinninmont were almost even past the finish post, but the former would take second place on the Cindy Brander-trained Winning Aura, the latter rounding out the top three on the Heidi Smith-trained Maccomo.
Despite missing out on the Cup victory, Page and Henderson earned themselves two wins from the five-race card at Wentworth.
The first for the previous Cup-winning duo came in the 1200m Benchmark 50 Handicap, where pre-race favourite Rodney secured a five-length win.
They also finished the day on a high with five-year-old gelding Midnight Rush taking out the Ormond McLeod Memorial Handicap ahead of pre-race fancy My Truth from Mildura trainer Kim Talent.
Cobar trainer Allan Prisk got his day off to a good start with pre-race favourite Kurios Scotch taking out the 1000m maiden plate.
In a tight finish, the winner, second-placed Seminara and third-placed Iconic Missile were all within a body length of each other.
