Ritza Hattie took her prizemoney earnings to more than $200,000 by taking out the Group 2 Woy Woy Poultry Supplies Gosford Gold Cup on Friday night.
Trained by Mark Gatt, Ritza Hattie stalked the early pace set by Jewel Action and Rue De Kahn before taking the lead in the final straight to win in 29.58.
Ritza Hattie (pictured, yellow rug) finished a length in front of a gallant Rue De Kahn, with Queenslander Farmer's Gold making up huge ground late - coming from near last to be a further quarter of a length in third.
Zipping Willow, the odds-on favourite, could not get into the race after a tardy beginning and finished in fifth.
Watch a replay of the race here.
Ritza Hattie's handler Daniel Gatt said she would likely be entered into the heats of the Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park on Saturday, provided she pulled up from her win in good order.
The win took Ritza Hattie's career record to 17 wins from 41 starts. It was also her fourth Group race win, having previously won the Group 2 Sandown Laurels and the Group 3 Nowra Spring Puppy Classic in 2013 and the Group 3 Ambrosoli at Wentworth Park in 2014. The daughter of Bombastic Shiraz also finished second to Tommy Brislane in last year's Group 1 Sportingbet Megastar at Dapto.
Like the Megastar, the Gosford Gold Cup was a leg of the new Thank Dog It's Friday series which showcases the best provincial racing in NSW in a primetime Friday night slot.
As such, a great crowd was trackside to witness what was a terrific night's racing.
In other results, the Anthony Azzopardi-trained My Boy Snoop caused an upset when he took out the Gosford Cup Consolation, while the Ian Morgan-trained Raramuri came within 0.03 seconds of Dusty Moonshine's 731m Gosford track record to win the night's staying event.
