Mister Swinger (above) crosses the finish line well clear of the field in the Decron Cranbourne Cup and Geoff Webster (left) celebrates with the cup after the race.By Stuart Teather
GEOFF Webster-trained Mister Swinger took out the Group Two Decron Cranbourne Cup with an emphatic victory on Saturday night.
Having run second to Manwarra Goforgold a week earlier in the MHRC Classic at Moonee Valley, Mister Swinger set out to turn the tables.
Manwarra Goforgold took the lead with two laps to go and Mister Swinger trailed him until the final straight.
Webster’s horse turned up the heat in the straight and thundered past Manwarra Goforgold, streaking out to a six-and-three-quarter-metre lead at the finish line.
It was another luckless finish for Manwarra Goforgold, which now has the dubious honour of back-to-back second places at the Cranbourne Cup.
The race provided better news for Mister Swinger, however, as the horse picked up his second Victorian Country Cup Carnival win for the season, having also won at Nyah in October.
It is little surprise that Webster was impressed after the race, having knocked off a strong rival in the process.
“Everything worked out nicely, he did the job,” he said.
“He won quite easily, you can’t be happier than that. He sat behind the leader (Manwarra Goforgold), then went up the sprint lane and won quite comfortably.
“Especially in the bigger races, it was nice to beat a good quality horse like him.”
Webster is now lining Mister Swinger up for a crack at the $375,000 Victoria Cup at Moonee Valley in three weeks’ time.
“Everything is full steam ahead, he’s a horse on the up, so we’re looking forward to it (Victoria Cup),” he said.
“He’s capable of running pretty good times, as good as most other horses, so times aren’t an issue really.
“He’ll go round Saturday week (at Moonee Valley) and in the Victoria Cup the week after that.”
In other races, Warragul horse Billy Royle won the feature support race of the night, the $25,000 Group Three Classic International Floats Cranbourne Trotters Cup.
Trained by Jenni Lewis, Billy Royle won by three metres from Ronerail, with Kiwi horse Sundons Gift a further five metres back.
Ronerail held the lead at the final bend, but Royle ducked into the sprint lane on the straight and powered past the tiring horse to a comfortable victory.
The win was Billy Royle’s third in his past five starts, providing the horse with good form in the lead up to the $100,000 Group One Australian Trotting Grand Prix at Moonee Valley on December 13.
Despite his record, the 10-year-old was paying $10.90 for the win, leaving plenty of punters smiling at the result.
Drouin trainer Debbie Quinlan picked up the night’s only double, winning race-three with Jazzam and race nine with Miss Deville.
Cranbourne Harness Racing Club chief executive David Scott said the evening was a big success, with crowd numbers up on the previous year.
The club’s next two meetings have been moved to Yarra Valley and Kilmore as track upgrades take place.
