OBERON trainer Luke Booth watched on as master reinsman Glen McElhinney produced a remarkable drive to guide his five-year-old gelding Cheeky Jerula to a landmark victory at Menangle on Saturday night.
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The $9.50 chance had no real right to win the $25,000 Listed Country Series Final after getting repeatedly blocked for a run over the final stages of the 1,609 metre race.
His last hope was to look wider on the track after spending most of the race on the pegs behind leader Golden Montana ($20.30).
But suddenly a glimpse of space back on the inside saw McElhinney make a final lunge for victory.
He ducked back to the pegs, snuck through and pinched the win by just a half-neck from Bathurst horse Hallycould ($3.20 favourite) with David Hewitt’s Keilor Kimberly ($3.50) a few metres back in third.
It was the third win of an eventful career so far for Booth’s gelding, who starred on debut in Orange with a Jack Honan Memorial heat victory back in February, but has struggled for consistency since.
“He has shown a bit in his career, he won that heat early on and Luke took him for a look at the track at Menangle a few starts in but he didn’t have much luck, and locked wheels at one stage during that race,” Luke’s father Rodney Booth explained.
“Glen McElhinney had a look at his record and noticed that it had been a 10th, a first and a 10th and joked that on that basis, he should win on Saturday. He went out and did it.
“He is out of a very good family, the mare [Waratah Walton] has had three that have gone on and raced, and all of them have run under two minutes for the mile, which is a good indicator.
“He is a half-brother to Jerula Rose who won a Carnival of Cups race at Bathurst going back a few years, she ran 1.57, so there’s good pedigree there.
“There is no doubt that’s the biggest win Luke has had as a trainer, prior to that it was probably the Carnival of Cups race. That was worth about $10,000, but this is up another level again.”
It was a good night in general for the Bathurst entries with Nathan Hurst and Bernie Hewitt also picking wins.
Driving Saloon Passage after being sent out as a $1.40 favourite, Hurst just managed to beat Hewitt on Kenny Dee Dee ($7.10) in the $21,000 Country Pace, scoring by a head.
Hewitt had success of his own in the other Listed race, the second of the $25,000 Country Series Finals. Veteran gelding Stormfort-heboys made it three wins in four starts with a strong finish to snare victory at $14.
