LONG-RANGE PLAN PROVES GOLDEN

STAWELL trainer Dane Smith has pulled off a masterplan to turn the former Matt Cumani-trained gelding Golden Authority into a Colac Cup winner.

The son of Authorized had raced 10 times for Cumani for three wins, but Smith secured the opportunity to buy the five-year-old galloper, with plans to target the country cups.

After a third on debut for the new stable in the Camperdown Cup last month, Golden Authority finished second in a benchmark 70 at Kyneton second-up to give Smith the perfect lead-up to yesterday’s $70,000 feature at Colac.

The galloper held off the Greg Eurell-trained Fontein Lad to win the 2000m race by half a length.

“A lot of (the owners) are from Colac here, so it’s a really big day for them to come here and win the cup, so it’s terrific,” Smith said.

“He was specifically bought for this race and his runs up to date have been terrific for us.

“Freddy (Kersley) rode him an absolute treat; he rode him perfectly to instruction and we just couldn’t be happier.”

Smith said the win was one of the biggest in his career.

“Stawell Cup is obviously always great, but this is definitely up there,” he said.