Rarely does a Moruya Cup day go by without the Murray name featuring somewhere on the card and Monday’s 2017 edition was no exception.
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A year after his late father Bede trained a treble, including Cup winner O’Reilly’s Revenge, Paul Murray returned to the South Coast track and notched up three dominant victories.
While the coveted Cup and Plate’s eluded him, Murray had success with Case (race one), Direct Strategy (race three) and Can’t Find Snippy (race eight) in what was a memorable day at the Country Showcase meeting.
Jockey Jeff Penza rode all three to impressive wins.
The weight just beat our Cup horse but apart from that, everything has been great.
- Graeme Murray
The gun hoop had also piloted O’Reilly’s Revenge in the Moruya Cup (1660m), which Murray had taken south to defend his title.
In the end the top weight of 61.5kgs told and O’Reilly’s Revenge faded to finish outside the placings but it did little to detract from another strong day for the stable.
“It has been a good day,” stable representative Graeme Murray said.
“The weight just beat our Cup horse but apart from that, everything has been great.”
Paul Murray won the Cup in 2013 with Fair Nation. His treble in 2017 took his recent record to a sensational nine winners from his last 20 runners. Case ensured the stable started the day on the right note with a 1-½ length victory in the Waterfront Hotel Maiden Showcase Plate (1020m). Penza then led from barrier to box on Direct Strategy.
He took a similar approach with Can’t Find Snippy and it proved to be the right one as the filly made it back-to-back wins at the track with a similarly comfortable 2-¼ length victory in the Moruya Golf Club Benchmark 60 Showcase Handicap (1020m).
“The classy of the horse she is, she was just a little bit better,” Graeme Murray said.
“I knew she would jump, we just cuddled her and then let Jeff do what he wants to do.”
The Moruya Cup was won by Richard Clarke trained Coolcat Dancer thanks to a great ride by Grant Buckley. Luke Pepper’s Marquee was two lengths back in second, with Lynda Bundy trained Sigmund third. Pepper’s Hello Schumann claimed the Moruya Town Plate under the urging of apprentice Chelsea MacFarlane.
