Horse Racing

Guy Walter’s seven-year-old gelding Twin Wing continued his good winter form on Thursday when he outclassed a quality field of gallopers to take out the $150,000 Listed Grafton Cup (2350m) in country New South Wales.

Veteran Twin Wing ($11), ridden by Jay Ford, had a tough run on the home straight but never gave up and held on to defeat Ipswich Cup runner-up Frozone ($6) by a mere short-head, with Caloundra Cup winner and $2.90 favourite Ironstein coming in a length away for third.

After overcoming their wide barrier draw, Twin Wing and jockey Ford set the pace and had found the lead by the home straight. Digging deep Twin Wing held off a strong late challenge by Frozone, who briefly got in front, fighting back to secure the win.

Twin Wing has had an impressive winter campaign, also claiming victory in the Listed Winter Cup (2400m) at Rosehill last month, with Thursday’s Grafton Cup win making up for his close third in the race last year.

Warwick Farm-based trainer Walter said he had taken a page out of the legendary Bart Cummings’ book when it came to preparing Twin Wing for the Grafton Cup.

Twin Wing hadn’t started in over a month, their last run being third in the Stayers Cup (3200m) at Rosehill, and to go from a testing 3.2km race to the shorter 2,350m with no runs in between was a risk.

But Cummings, a record 12 times winning Melbourne Cup trainer, used a similar preparation for 1996 Melbourne Cup winner Saintly and so Walter was willing to give it a go.

It paid off for him and for all the punters who had gotten onto Twin Wing’s good odds at Sportsbet.

A son of American sire Istidaad, Twin Wing has now won nine of his 49 career starts for over $480,000 in prizemoney and Walter is now looking towards the Wyong and Newcastle Cups.

The big race this weekend everyone is keen to have a punt on is the Listed Winter Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday, where the Peter Moody-trained Ghostmilk is the hot favourite currently paying $2.80 for a win through Sportsbet.

If you are considering having a bet at the TAB keep in mind you won’t be getting the best odds or biggest payouts possible. Sportsbet is the online bookmaker to use if you really want to make some money, so sign up today and enjoy the weekend racing!

2010 Grafton Cup Results