Renowned for his skills in advancing gallopers through the grades to win country cups is Dubbo trainer Michael Mulholland who has a serious contender for the $75,000 Orange Gold Cup on Friday, April 11, 2025 in the five-year-old chestnut gelding Magnace.
After winning over 1600 metres at Orange, Magnace stepped up to 2200 metres to win at Dubbo and back to 1600 metres on Sunday beat a handy field in the Benchmark 82 Angullong Wines Orange Cup Prelude.
Cape Byron (Deanne Panya, $5.50) broke clear in the straight however Magnace (Serg Lisnyy, $3.70 favourite) from well back finished very strongly to win by a length with over two lengths to the third placed Rico Suave (Mitchell Bell, $9.50).
First up for Orange trainer Alison Smith after winning several races for Gilgandra trainer Kieren Hazelton, Turgenev charged home to win the 1280 metres Spanline Benchmark 58 Handicap.
In the straight, the heavily supported Check Your Six (Mikayla Weir, $11 to $7.50) burst through the pack and looked the likely winner.
Well-ridden by Jordan Quince who is apprenticed to Alison Smith, Turgenev $13) swept down the outside to win by a length from Check Your Six and Chico Casino (Mitch Stapleford, $7). When several of the members chose to sell their shares in Turgenev some from Gilgandra and Orange stayed in the syndicate including Craig Buckley who serves on the board of Racing Orange.
Favourite backers were off to losing start at Orange when the Bjorn Baker, Warwick Farm-trained Sassy Abbey was beaten in the 1000 metres Maiden Plate.
Fourth on the home turn, Sassy Abbey (Olivia Chambers, $1.80 to $1.40 favourite) was safely held by the Gary Portelli trained Itzarbaby (Coriah Keatings, $9) while Joy Of The World, Mitch Stapleford, $11) battled on for third.
Later in the day, the Bjorn Baker trained Triple Tempo (Brodie Loy) starting as a prohibitive $1.09 favourite, took the lead at the top of the straight and scraped home by a short neck from the strong finishing, Peter Cornish locally-trained Choice Deel (Mathew Cahill, $26) and The Mooch (Ken Dunbar, $15) in the 1000 metres Central West Power Construction Benchmark 58 Handicap.
Yet another good turnout for the meeting on Sunday and a big crowd is predicted for the Orange Gold Cup.
