After contesting a string of Group race finals the Michael Eberand owned, trained and bred Ebby Ripper finally broke through for a richly deserved win in Saturday night's Wentworth Park Gold Cup.
It's hard to recall a more popular big race success because Ebby Ripper, who had been placed twice in group ones, notched her 10th win in 30 Wentworth Park 720m starts in Saturday's Group 3 event.
And in typical Ebby Ripper fashion she thrilled the fans, coming from a seemingly impossibly distant fourth on the back straight to snatch victory over Big Daddy Bee on the line.
After the race a relieved Michael Eberand said: "When they were going down the back straight I was thinking she was going to disappoint us tonight because she wasn't taking off like she normally does.
“And I noticed the outsider Steve Keeping making a run with her so I was resigned to seeing her finish no better than third.
“But Ebby simply flew in the straight and ran home in 12 seconds flat, which is phenomenal considering she usually gets home in 12.18.
“When I took her to the presentation dais trackside Ebby Ripper went to jump up on the little steps, she is so used to finishing second or third!''
Big Daddy Bee, winner of the 2017 National Derby over 520m at Wentworth Park, was glorious in defeat, going down by only a half length.
“He did us proud again, leading everywhere bar the post and while Big Daddy Bee is not really a true stayer he carved out time tonight because Ebby Ripper clocked 42.15 and only just beat him.''
Eberand plans to nominate Ebby Ripper for a "best eight'' 720m race at Wentworth Park next Saturday night.
Most successful trainers on Saturday night at Wentworth Park were Carole and Jeff Eaton, who landed a double with litter brothers Blazin' Carter and Blazin' Fletch.
Blazin' Carter came from second early to win a 520m fifth grade in 30.46, scoring his third Wentworth Park win, while Blazin' Fletch recorded his fastest Wenty time of 30.11 in an all-the-way win in a similar race, taking his tally at headquarters to three wins from eight starts.
“I can't believe how much Blazin' Fletch has improved, he just gets better with every race,'' Carole Eaton said.
Blazin' Carter has now scored two wins and three seconds from his past five Wentworth Park outings, with Jeff Eaton commenting: "We have learned not to run him too much.
“All he had leading up to tonight's 520m race was a 300m hit-out up the straight on Tuesday because he seems to get a bit tired if he has too much racing.
“Blazin' Carter had box eight tonight and early in his career he was mad to cross to the rails, but now he handles an outside draw better because he tends to run fairly straight from the boxes to the first turn.''
Fastest 520m figures on Saturday were posted by the Ron Bell-trained Umatilla, who won the top grade sprint in 29.87, overcoming a check on the back straight and coming from third early to win easily.
After the race part-owner Ken Peddie said: "We did not have high hopes for Umatilla when he started racing.
“He was very disappointing in a couple of early trials and my co owner Ray Smith and I agreed that if he happened to win a race in town that would be the cream.
“But tonight's win was Umatilla's sixth at Wentworth Park, something we never dreamed would happen.''
When breeder Chris Carl borrowed brood bitch Kiowa Rebel from owner David Taylor and trainer Jenny Brown, he agreed to give them two puppies from a litter he planned to breed with stud dog Fabregas.
On Saturday night one of those pups, Fabrelass, ended a run of two unlucky seconds from four Wentworth Park races for Brown and Taylor with a determined win in a 520m fifth grade, clocking a smart 30.06.
Queensland visitor Big Bad Bob, who is owned, trained and bred by Mudgeeraba general practitioner Dr George Clegg, made light of a bad getaway to score his 19th win when making his Wentworth Park debut on Saturday.
See you next week!
