11 October 2021, 11:22 PM
By COLIN HODGES
Brett Robb is a great young horseman and as the trainer of On A Promise he had a long range plan to win the $50,000 Picnic Racing Championship at the Coonamble Cup meeting.
That plan came to fruition on Sunday when On A Promise trained to peak on the day won in resounding style.
Formerly from Nyngan and now with a sizeable team in work at Dubbo, Robb trains On A Promise for a group of keen racing fans from Lake Cargelligo and Tullibigeal and they have landed a string of betting plunges on their horse over the Picnic Racing season.
Following successive wins at Coonamble, Gilgandra and in TAB company at Narromine , On A Promise starting the $2.20 favourite was brilliantly ridden by Brent Evans in the Final, over 1400 metres.
When taken on for the early lead by Combogolong, Evans eased On A Promise to take a trail before releasing the brakes in the straight.
On A Promise shot away and won by over three lengths from the strong finishing 10 year old mare Malibu Stacy (Leandro Ribeiro,$9) from the Connie Greig stable at Dubbo with the Darryl Rolfe, Canberra trained Opera Tickets (Ricky Blewitt,$9) running on well for third.
Aesop’s Fable, owned by Dominic and Karen Neate, is a recent acquisition from Sydney stables for Moree trainer Peter Sinclair, has in succession won the Dubbo Cup and Coonamble Cup.
A quality field of 16 lined up for the $75,000 Geronimo-New Holland Agriculture Coonamble Showcase Cup over 1600 metres with the Canberra trained Ready To Humble starting the favourite.
Terrius and Hit The Target were the leaders with East Indiaman and Rich And Shameless close up in the run to the home turn.
Rich And Shameless (Rachael Murray,$12) took a split along the rails and darted clear but was overhauled in the final strides and beaten a length by Aesop’s Fable (Ashley Morgan,$7) which rushed home from well back while Ready To Humble (Clayton Gallagher,$3.40 favourite) also came with a late run to be a short neck away third.
The Dar Lunn, Dubbo trained Classy Rebel continued a remarkable campaign with yet another win, this time in the $37,000 Keady Family Showcase Crystal Sprint over 1200 metres.
Despite winning an incredible 9 races over the past year and renowned for fighting qualities, Classy Rebel was at amazing $10 odds for the feature sprint.
The talented Clayton Gallagher, formerly from Nyngan, was in the saddle and from an outside barrier quickly had Classy Rebel in a good position behind the leader, the Broken Hill trained Superhard.
Breaking clear in the straight, Classy Rebel won by two lengths from Drachenfels (Brooke Stower,$31) and Wild Rocket (Mathew Cahill,$10).
The Coonamble meeting had outstanding racing with big fields in the nine .events.