It was a massive night for local trainer Charmaine Roberts when she produced the winners of both the features on Dubbo’s feature night of the year.
Roberts first claimed the $10,000 to the winner, Peg and Bill Miller Memorial Final over 516m in dazzling style with Don’t Mind Me, then two races later she took out the Ladbrokes Dubbo Gold Cup - and another $10,000 to the winner prize - with the dashing Caitlyn Keeping.
In one of the most open Cup finals in some time, the first to rail to find the lead was going to be hard to catch, and that was Caitlyn Keeping.
She speared out of the five box, and matched it with Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg finalist Irinka Lizzy before crossing as they headed into the back straight, and being able to race away. While her main rivals were get strung up in traffic, Caitlyn Keeping – whose breakthrough win came in the Group 2 Black Top at The Gardens last year – was off and gone, and swinging out of the back straight the only interest was in the margin, the time and the minor placegetters.
Those answers were: 8¼ lengths, 29.56s and Double Up Dee grabbing second a neck in front of Irinka Lizzy.
It was the same quinella as it was at Bathurst back in February, when Caitlyn Keeping beat Double Up Dee in the final of the Ladbrokes Bathurst Gold Cup Final.
The victory took Caitlyn Keeping’s record to 20 wins from 49 starts with 14 placings, and Sunday’s win taking her prizemoney over the $100,000 mark.
In the night’s other feature event, it was a simply stunning performance by Don’t Mind Me in the Peg and Bill Miller Memorial Final.
In last week’s heats of the event, Don’t Mind Me went within a length of the Dubbo track record clocking 29.34s. On Sunday night, he came within 0.01s of the track record set by David Pringle’s Million Dollar Chase finalist, Midnight Starlet in the Dubbo Regional Final last year, when he scorched around the track in 29.28s.
Jumping from the eight box, Don’t Mind Me flew out and crossed the rail, and then comfortably held off a dogged Chase from runner-up Spring Falcon, with Fusion Kiss filling the trifecta position.
The win was Don’t Mind Me’s third win from eight starts, all three around his home track at Dubbo.
