Pembrook Charlie’s quirky racing style helped him get his nose in front when it mattered in Sunday’s Loddon Shire Wedderburn Pacing Cup.
The Julie Douglas-trained former New Zealander, who often races with his neck stretched out and head low to the ground, emerged victorious in the $14,500 feature narrowly from a pack of rivals.
A wall of horses hit the line basically in unison at the end of the 2555m trip, with Pembrook Charlie prevailing by a short half head over Ashleigh Herbertson-trained Im Shadow Boxer. So close was the finish, he was just 2.8m clear of the sixth-placed Guptas Cullen.
Jackie Barker took the winning drive on Pembrook Charlie, who added the success to back-to-back wins at Mildura on January 20 and 26.
“Out of the gate, the ones that I thought would come out probably didn’t come out as quick as I thought they would and we ended up settling pretty close up there. So that was handy,” Barker said.
“I then got a good cart into it on Mick’s (Bellman driving Modern Bliss) back and when I pulled him out at the top of the straight, he really went fast. And then he was knocking off a little bit coming to the line so I wasn’t sure if we got there or not, but it was a thrilling finish and luckily he stuck his head out.”
It was also a major success for owner Eric Anderson, who has had a lengthy association with the Barker family.
“It’s a long time since I’ve won a country cup,” he said.
“Jackie came to Mildura for me once and drove a couple of claiming races when she didn’t really have to and (her father) Rod used to drive for me a lot. He drove Franco Tiger and so on and actually Rod was going to be the second choice today if Jackie said no. So lucky she said yes.”
Pembrook Charlie has now won nine of 38 career starts, six of which have been since arriving in Australia during the middle of last year.
James Herbertson may have gone down narrowly as runner-up in that race but did manage to claim the day’s other key feature with Jason McNaulty-trained Travel Bug..jpg)
The five-year-old gelding set a new 2955m track record mile rate of 2:05.2min in taking out the Richmond & Associates Wedderburn Trotters Cup.
Sunday’s success came narrowly over The Penny Drops – who dived late but just missed by a half neck – and helped Travel Bug erase the disappointment of a narrow second in the Hamilton Trotters Cup a fortnight earlier.
Travel Bug, a gelding by Dream Vacation, is building a super career record with 11 victories from 31 runs for more than $60,000 in prizemoney.
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