The drinks were on the O'Leary's and it was Ladies First at the Wanganui Racecourse on Saturday as the rescheduled 2016 Civics @ Cambridge Thoroughbred Lodge Wanganui Cup had its belated running at the Queens Birthday races.
Ladies First, owned by Humphrey O'Leary of the well-known quartet of horse racingbrothers, and his wife Fiona, was powered home by jockey Lisa Allpress in the $50,000 feature over 2040m - making good on the $3.40 favouritism.
It was the second straight Cup win for New Plymouth trainer Allan Sharrock, who got Madonna Mia up for 2015 and once again picked the conditions perfectly - as no-one in the field could answer on the finishing straight as the filly smashed them for a three-and-three-quarter length victory.
The early pace setters at the turn for the 16-horse field were second favourite Pacorus (Viktoria Gatu), followed by Captain Lincoln (Masa Tanaka) and Maygrove (Hayden Tinsley).
Those at the rear of the field began to push hard on the pace along the back stretch, while up the front it was Perfectlyenchanted (Leah Hemi) who came up to join the leaders and take third.
The field had closed in enough that the race was anyone's as they spread out on the final stretch, but Ladies First left it to daylight for second as Allpress took the filly right through the centre and powered away with not a challenger in sight.
The sire of Dylan Thomas, Ladies First romped to an outstanding win, with Zartan (Samantha Collett) and Pacorus taking the minor placings.
Humphrey O'Leary said the Sharrock team had got Ladies First perfect as a lightweight of 53kg on the heavy winter track, and she had been hitting the line strong in the buildup.
"We're very excited. When you win on your home track it's got to be good."
Soon to be on his way to the bar, O'Leary was asked if he expected Ladies First to have dominated in quite that fashion.
"You're always hoping, but until they deliver on the day, in horse racing you never know.
"We'll dissect the race a few times tonight."
The postponing of the original Cup race on November 26 last year was due to a cloud burst shortly before Race 1, but despite concerns of the using the winter's date, Whanganui turned on a perfect afternoon.
"It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining on our backs," said O'Leary.
Jockey Lisa Allpress brings in Ladies First after they won the Cup.
The other half of the feature on a day when there was $270,000 in total up for grabs was the $50,000 John Turkington Forestry Ltd Castletown Stakes for two-year-olds over 1200m, which is run at Wanganui Racecourse for the Foxton club.
In a thrilling finish, Hard Merchandize (Hayden Tinsley) got on the inside rail to Bombard (Sam Spratt) and ran it down at the line to get photo-finish victory by a nose, with Satin Belt (Holly Andrew) well back for third.
The stunning comeback victory was a delight for the syndicate of ten owners and Awapuni trainer Garry Vile.
"It's a race I always wanted to win, it's a little horse but a good horse.
