FROM PONY CLUB TO CUP TRIUMPH
From pony club to Cup triumph
TASMANIA’S most promising stayer Eastender delivered a career-best performance to score an emphatic win in the $250,000 Group 3 TAB Hobart Cup over 2400m at Elwick yesterday.
Eastender had to come from near last 500m from home but, after an amazing ride from Craig Newitt, the gelded son of Tickets hauled in the leaders and went on to score by 1½ lengths from Victorian gelding Lamborghini, with Appmat a close-up third.
The Barry trained five-year-old moved a step closer to becoming the first horse since champion Brallos to win all three major Tasmanian cups in the same season, having already won the $100,000 Devonport Cup last month. Brallos achieved the feat in 1977 and he also went on to win the Geelong Cup that season with Max Baker in the saddle.
About two years ago Eastender was close to being sacked and sent to pony club duties, but a decision to see if he could stay paved the way for him winning his first Tasmanian St Leger over 2600m and he won the race again last season.
“This horse is a serious stayer and I reckon he’s one of the best [stayers] that’s ever raced in the state,” Campbell said.
“Today he’s won a Hobart Cup and he showed a lot of class to win it, so I am very confident he can go on and win the Launceston Cup and then he’ll go to the Adelaide Cup over 3200 metres and I reckon that’s when he’ll really shine.”
If Eastender goes on and wins the Group 3 Launceston Cup at the end of the month, he will also earn for his connections the $100,000 Cups Double Bonus that is offered by Tasracing for any horse that can win both major cups in the same season.
The bonus is shared equally between owners and trainer.
Newitt said he was proud of the horse and predicted he would win better races as he became more seasoned.
“I knew it was going to take a good ride to get this horse home today because he was always going to settle last and then I was going to have to find a way to have him within striking distance turning for home,” Newitt said.
“All I did was trust the horse and, to be honest, I just steered him and he did the rest.
“I was always confident he was the best stayer in the race and he never let me down.”
Eastender was purchased at the 2015 Tasmania Magic Millions Yearling sale for $22,000 by Star Thoroughbreds director Denise Martin, who operates one of the most successful racehorse syndication operations in Australia.
“When I purchased this horse at the Tasmanian yearling sales, I thought he had the physique of a potential miler, but little did we know that he would develop into a very good stayer,” Martin said.
“I was asked this week by Sydney racing writer Ray Thomas how winning a Hobart Cup would compare to having won a Golden Slipper [with Sebring] and I told him it would be a dead-heat and I am still of that opinion now that we’ve won the Hobart Cup.”