Fighting spirit to capture Charlton’s Cups

A fighting spirit was in fashion at Charlton on Sunday as two much-loved warriors showed plenty of grit to capture harness racing country cups.

The Penny Drops (Danny Bouchea) was typically brilliant in the North West Ag Series Trotters Cup, winning from the breeze after another stirring battle with Havehorsewilltravel.

And then just a tick over an hour later Demon Delight (Bettors Delight) roared back into the winners’ circle with an all-the-way victory in the Charlton & District Community Bank Pacing Cup, with Emma Stewart training the trifecta.

Driver Jackie Barker said the win on Demon Delight “is definitely up there” with her career highlights and it also brought big smiles for owners Russell and Pam Hockham.

“I also won the Ararat Cup a few years back with Deedenuto, this one’s probably on a par with it,” Barker said. “Seeing the crowd here today and how well Charlton has done here, (it) is a huge thrill to see so many people back at the track.”

And they had much to cheer on, with Demon Delight backed into $2.40 favourite and controlling the 2570-metre Cup from the front, pouring the pressure on for the last mile with a series of sub-30sec quarters.

Stablemates Our Millionaire and Phoenix Prince challenged amid a 55.7sec dash to the line, but despite appearing to tire late Demon Delight had the answers and claimed the $35,000 Group 3.

The win also brought up Demon Delight’s first success in almost two years, which included a long lay-off with injury.

“The horse has been going really good and just needed to get his own way in a race, today that happened and he proved he was just as good as them out there,” Barker said. “Hopefully it’s a good sign of things to come.

“It was very exciting coming around that last corner near the 400, a line of three and it was anyone’s race at that point, but turning for home he really kicked and he found the line strongly.”

As did The Penny Drops in the trotters cup, despite rival Havehorsewilltravel gaining the early ascendancy.

The latter quickly overcame his backmarker status in Kate Gath’s hands, launching from the standing start to erase his 30-metre handicap and soon lob into the lead.

Manning was quick to pour on the pressure, moving The Penny Drops to the breeze and for the last lap and a half they battled.

Havehorsewilltravel appeared to kick away at the final turn but The Penny Drops continued to grind and come the finishing post he’d claim victory by a half-head.

“When you get instructions to just go out there and don’t die wondering it’s more fun than usual, because you get permission to put the foot down,” Manning told TrotsVision.

“This horse, he just goes better driven like that. He missed the start today and when Kate went sailing past me I was a little bit worried then.

“To his credit he’d just go all day. The horse is as tough as old boots. He just struggled a bit on the bends and loses a bit of ground. I knew in the straight he would rally again, I just had to keep at him.”

After Sunday’s result only one point separates Havehorsewilltravel (11 points) from The Penny Drops on the Maori’s Idol Trotting Championship, which carries a $25,000 bonus to the winner at the end of 2022.

Demon Delight also greatly improved his standing. The win improved him to 12 points and second place in the Trots Country Cups Championship, behind only Sydney horse Spirit Of St Louis (15 points).

The country cup circuit moves to Echuca Friday night for its pacing and trotting cups before continuing with the Ouyen Pacing Cup on Sunday.

By Michael Howard for HRV