THE Benalla Gold Cup is headed across the Bass Strait after Tasmanian stayer Rhumb Line held off late challenges to claim the 100th running of the race.
The win gave popular Brighton trainer Gary White his biggest victory on Victorian soils and apprentice jockey Logan McGill a career highlight.
Rhumb Line ($15) enjoyed a comfortable trip on the rails before finding a gap at the top of the straight, shooting to the front and holding off the fast finishing Doin’thehardyards ($7) by a head.
Pre-race favourite Chantal Sally ($2.80) raced greenly over the back 400m but flew home to finish a short-head away third.
Smith paid tribute to the aid of good friends and Melbourne trainers Doug and Tony Harrison, at whose stables Rhumb Line has been based since August.
“A lot of the credit has to go to Tony Harrison and the rest of the staff in Cranbourne,” White said.
“I mentioned to Tony the other day that we had a few races in mind and suggested the Benalla Cup would be a really good race for him.
“So I took his advice and it’s come into fruition.
“We’re just so stoked — at the moment I’m just pinching myself a bit.”
Rhumb Line was a green youngster and required a lot of education.
However, after winning four consecutive races and respectable runs in the Brighton and Hobart cups, White decided it was time to head north.
He took Rhumb Line to Melbourne where he ran last twice at Sandown.
But, convinced he had a good horse on his hands, White persisted with the five-year-old and sent him to Flemington over a longer distance.
“He rattled home in that race behind Baughurst who went on to run second on Saturday, which we knew was good form,” he said.
“I’ve trained a few stayers at home and knew that he had great lung capacity and Tony (Harrison) was of the opinion that whatever beat him (today) would win the race so I was pretty confident he would be competitive.
“When you’ve got people like Tony with eyes looking out for you ... it’s an enormous help.”
White said he was likely to resist the allure of Melbourne in the spring carnival in the hope of success at home.
“At this stage the Launceston Cup looks like a race that will be right in his range,” he said.
“But we’ll sit back and look at the calendar and try to hatch some ingenious plan.”
White was particularly impressed with his first visit to Benalla.
“The way this meeting has been publicised, organised and run has been just phenomenal,” he said.
“The track was immaculate — we walked across it beforehand and couldn’t believe the state of it.”
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