An impressive victory in tricky conditions at Nowra has Robert and Luke Price looking to send Cuban Belle to the Sapphire Coast check for next month's Bega Cup.
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The mare ran over the top of stablemate Budderoo Knight and favourite Tenorino, before holding off a fast-finishing Gitan to claim a tight victory in a 1400 metre open handicap.
With the Bega Cup to be run over 1600m on Sunday February 2, trainer Luke Price said Cuban Belle will likely head south for the showcase race.
"Cuban Belle was really good," Price said. "We might send her to the Bega Cup. A couple of the horses in that race are looking to go that way and looking at the calendar, it might be the right thing to go to the Bega Cup.
"I think if she draws the right barrier and has a nice run, she'll be hard to beat."
Cuban Belle's win was the Price's sole victory on a challenging day at Nowra, the weather conditions polar opposite to previous weeks.
While multiple racedays at Nowra were cancelled this summer due to extreme heat and smoke, Friday's meeting was run in the rain on a heavy nine.
Price conceded the meeting was a matter of finding a race for some of his horses.
"It would have been nice to have a couple more winners, but on a heavy track it's tough. It's been such a frustrating run, with the weather, some of those horses just had to go around.
"It was good to get one winner and a couple of horses still ran well, so we'll take it."